Can't-Wait Wednesday: The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock by Imogen Hermes Gowar & The Boy at the Keyhole by Stephen Giles

Can't-Wait is a weekly meme hosted by Wishful Endings that spotlights exciting upcoming releases that we can't wait to be released! This meme is based off of Jill @ Breaking the Spine's Waiting on Wednesday meme.

This week's upcoming book spotlight is:

The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock by Imogen Hermes Gowar
Publication Date: September 11th, 2018

Harper
496 pages

Pre-order: Amazon | Book Depository 

From Goodreads: 

"This voyage is special. It will change everything… 

One September evening in 1785, the merchant Jonah Hancock hears urgent knocking on his front door. One of his captains is waiting eagerly on the step. He has sold Jonah’s ship for what appears to be a mermaid. 

As gossip spreads through the docks, coffee shops, parlours and brothels, everyone wants to see Mr Hancock’s marvel. Its arrival spins him out of his ordinary existence and through the doors of high society. At an opulent party, he makes the acquaintance of Angelica Neal, the most desirable woman he has ever laid eyes on… and a courtesan of great accomplishment. This chance meeting will steer both their lives onto a dangerous new course, a journey on which they will learn that priceless things come at the greatest cost… 

What will be the cost of their ambitions? And will they be able to escape the destructive power mermaids are said to possess? 

In this spell-binding story of curiosity and obsession, Imogen Hermes Gowar has created an unforgettable jewel of a novel, filled to the brim with intelligence, heart and wit."

I know this already came out in the UK about a year ago, but I've still yet to read it and it's finally getting a US publication date! I am excited about this storyline, as it sounds like a really fascinating and complex plot. I can't wait to hopefully have a chance to read it.

and...

The Boy at the Keyhole by Stephen Giles
Publication Date: September 4th, 2018

Hanover Square Press 
272 pages
Pre-order: Amazon | Book Depository

From Goodreads: 

"An electrifying debut in the vein of Shirley Jackson and Daphne Du Maurier’s Rebecca, about a British boy who, after his mother is abruptly called away to America, begins to suspect that perhaps she did not leave, but was murdered—by the housekeeper who cares for him in the family's isolated country estate. 

Nine-year-old Samuel lives alone in a once great estate in Surrey with the family’s housekeeper, Ruth. His father is dead and his mother has been abroad for five months, purportedly tending to her late husband’s faltering business. She left in a hurry one night while Samuel was sleeping and did not say goodbye. 

Beyond her sporadic postcards, Samuel hears nothing from his mother. He misses her dearly and maps her journey in an atlas he finds in her study. Samuel’s life is otherwise regulated by Ruth, who runs the house with an iron fist. Only she and Samuel know how brutally she enforces order. 

As rumors in town begin to swirl, Samuel wonders whether something more sinister is afoot. Perhaps his mother did not leave, but was murdered—by Ruth. 

Channeling the masterful suspense of Daphne Du Maurier's Rebecca and the haunting, claustrophobic atmosphere of the works of Shirley Jackson, The Boy at the Keyhole is an electrifying debut about the precarious dance between truth and perception, and the shocking acts that occur amid tightly knit quarters."

I am really intrigued by the sound of this book. I love books with a slightly sinister undertone that takes over. The comparison to Shirley Jackson and Daphe Du Maurier also makes me want to pick this up immediately.

What do you think about these upcoming releases? What are your anticipated upcoming releases?

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