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On The Table Read Magazine, “the best entertainment eBook magazine UK“, Jago is Keith Austin’s electrifying third Fractured Fairy Tale, where two orphans and a mystical dragon battle sinister forces in a gritty, fantastical 1880s London that blends Dickensian dread with heart-pounding dark fantasy.
Jago
Keith Austin’s Jago, the electrifying third book in the acclaimed Fractured Fairy Tale series, has landed in the UK, plunging readers into the grim, fantastical underbelly of 1880s East London. Hailed as a peer to literary giants like Stephen King and Neil Gaiman by The Guardian’s The Book Thief, Austin delivers a genre-busting masterpiece that melds Charles Dickens’ gritty realism with dark, lyrical fantasy. Jago is a visceral, heart-wrenching adventure that balances gut-punch action with prose so evocative it lingers like soot in the air.
Set in the squalid maze of the Old Nichol slum, Jago follows two orphans, Demelza Cotton and Jago Quinn, whose hardscrabble lives take a fantastical turn when they stumble upon a hypnotic, kaleidoscopic lizard—a dragon that pulses with mystery and menace. This discovery sets off a relentless chase, as sinister forces close in. The vicious Cray Twins, the enigmatic Adamina Wollondilly, and her eerie Eyeballers—a bizarre crew of government agents—hunt the children and their otherworldly companion. What unfolds is a gothic fairy tale brimming with suspense, loyalty, and fragile hope, where happy endings feel like a cruel mirage.
Austin’s storytelling is a tightrope walk between brutal action and delicate prose, painting a Victorian East End that’s both achingly real and wildly inventive. The sooty alleyways and shadowy secrets of London come alive, as Demelza and Jago fight to protect the creature they love against a city that wants its blood. Their journey is equal parts thrilling and soul-crushing, a testament to Austin’s ability to weave myth and menace into a narrative that’s as emotionally rich as it is explosive.
Jago arrives with a trail of glowing reviews, cementing Austin’s place as a master of modern fantasy. This twisted gem in the Fractured Fairy Tale universe is a must-read for those who crave stories that are monstrous, moving, and utterly unforgettable. Available now, Jago invites readers to lose themselves in a world where fairy tales don’t promise happy ever afters—but deliver something far more powerful.
Keith Austin
I’ve always loved the visceral darkness of the original Grimm tales, before they were watered down. Jago, like Grymm and Snow —takes that raw, unsettling energy and gives it a new face in the shadowy streets of 19th century East London. I wanted to explore what happens when kids who have nothing suddenly become protectors of something extraordinary. Don’t all children dream of the moment when they discover the magic behind the door? While I’ve been humbled and gratified by the overwhelming response to the series, if a few readers come away with their hearts broken and their imaginations reignited, then I’ve done my job.
–Keith Austin
After attending Parmiter’s Grammar School in East London, Keith’s early career included two years at a local pie, mash, and eel shop before he began his journalism journey at the East London Advertiser at age 20. His newspaper career took him from East London to Oxford and Essex, culminating in a move to Fleet Street to join The Sunday Times in London.
Following periods at the Daily Mirror and the China Daily in Beijing, Keith emigrated to Australia in 1994, where he spent 28 years working for the Sydney Morning Herald and later as a freelance travel writer. It was during his time in Australia that he found the inspiration for his YA horror story, GRYMM. Returning to the UK in 2022, Keith then spent several months in Albania writing his fourth and most outrageous YA book to date, FART CLOWNS (forthcoming!).
Find more from Keith Austin now:
Apple Books: https://apple.co/4lWywcC
Kindle: https://amzn.to/4jR7PEu
Paperback: https://amzn.to/4cT15DI
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