A love story in turn of the century England takes a mystical twist in the upcoming gaslamp fantasy novel The Lepidopterist’s Beautiful Daughter by David Rae.
Tito, the youngest son of a wealthy landowner, endures a stifling upbringing to find love in the daughter of his tutor. Yet, just as he wins her heart, he breaks a vow he made and a terrible secret rips her from his arms. His attempts to recover his love pit him against monsters and mythical flora and take him across the continent in search of the birthplace of angels.
Rae’s previous work, the dark fantasy Sun Thief trilogy (Crowman, Crowtower, and Crowbait) were widely praised for their “cinematic and emotive quality” (Readers’ Favorite) and “language that is spare and beautiful at the same time” (Iseult Murphy, author of Return to Hades and Other Adventures). Reedsy called the first book “a masterpiece of epic fantasy, conceptual and allegorical fiction” and Strange Horizons said, “the novel offers a fully conceived world that keeps the more whimsical aspects of fantasy on a par with its sun-deprived characters’ desolate and bloody journey towards hope.”
The Lepidopterist’s Beautiful Daughter will be releasing October 9, 2026 in trade paperback (338 pages, ISBN 978-1-998795-32-1, $28.99 CAD) and ebook (ISBN 978-1-998795-33-8, $7.99) formats. Preorders are already available in some bookstores and making their way into more.
Rae lives in Scotland and grew up in a world where hordes of workers spill out of factories, a world where fog and smoke shroud all kinds of creatures, a world where ruined castles, factories and houses are haunted by ghosts, gangs and memories. Since a child, he has tried to capture that world in words, poems, and stories. He is married and has four lovely children and now lovely grandchildren. And he continues to read and to write and marvel at the world he lives in.
The Lepidopterist’s Beautiful Daughter is Milton, Ontario-based SFF publisher Brain Lag’s fourth release of 2026. It follows up the science fiction/fantasy blend Indigo Time by Sally McBride, the urban fantasy Virtues of Skin by Joe Weinberg, and the upcoming space opera thriller The Curve of the Corridor by Victoria Feistner, with another book coming by the end of the year still to be announced.
Media inquiries and requests to contact the author can be directed to publishing@brain-lag.com.
Leave a Reply