Blue Door, the new imprint from HarperCollins, launched with Anne Berry's debut novel The Hungry Ghosts. The imprint will publish an eclectic selection of, primarily, fiction titles. The imprint's founder, Patrick Janson-Smith shares his excitement, at this new project, with Lovereading:

I am still completely passionate about publishing, even after forty-two years in the profession. My goodness, how it has changed; from the manual typewriter and carbon paper in triplicate, to the pencil-thin laptop and the ever-buzzing BlackBerry. It’s the joy of a new discovery that has kept my heart beating all these years, which is why I am here, on Lovereading, extolling the virtues of Anne Berry’s début novel, The Hungry Ghosts.

Having been charged with setting up a new imprint and spending the first few months despairing of finding anything remotely new, fresh or original, just imagine the excitement of being offered an exclusive first look at a manuscript, by an agent whose taste and judgement I respected. And that respect was rewarded by a novel that became ever more brilliantly, shiningly alive as I turned the pages, culminating in the “Eureka” moment when I finished it. A year and a bit later, having gone through the many processes that it takes to prepare a book for publication, Blue Door is proud to present to the world a fabulous first novel by a dazzling new talent – and you can take it from me you have not heard the last of Anne Berry. Never keep quiet about a passion!

Patrick Janson-Smith
Publisher, Blue Door