Faebound is a British Book Award Winner for 2025!

We’re delighted for Saara El-Arifi who has won a British Book Award in the ‘Pageturner of the Year’ category with her bestselling romantasy novel, FAEBOUND!

The Pageturner award celebrates bestselling books across all genres and formats. All the shortlisted books cut through in the crowded TikTok, romantasy and commercial markets with stories set everywhere from the “Maas-verse”, 19th century England and the fantastical world of the fae.  

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The judges said: “El-Arifi is reinventing romantasy and smashing down walls and records while she’s at it.” The novel’s rich fantastical land- scape and cast of compelling characters, inspired by African mythology, caught our panel’s imagination, enticing non-fantasy and fantasy readers alike.

“I couldn’t put it down,” said one judge; “a rich and imaginative read,” added another. HarperVoyager’s “impressive” campaign propelled this romantasy tale to the top of a “busy market”, making El-Arifi the only British author of colour to get a whole-market number one in 2024.

Voyager’s approach ensured that Faebound was visible throughout the year; not only did the publisher tap into the appetite for special editions, but it created a genre-defying, decadent cover and held standout events such as the Fae Ball. Faebound was declared a “triumph” by our panel and a true testament to El-Arifi's skill as a fantasy author.