The Society of Unknowable Objects
  • Published: 7 September 2025
  • ISBN: 9781787637269
  • Imprint: Bantam
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 352
  • RRP: $50.00

The Society of Unknowable Objects

Formats & editions
Tr. Paperback
5 Aug 2025
Hardback
7 Sep 2025
EBook
7 Aug 2025
Audiobook
7 Aug 2025
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From the author of the Sunday Times bestselling The Book of Doors comes a second fantastical, stand-alone novel bursting with adventure and magic and heart. A handful of very ordinary individuals are members of a rather extraordinary society - its sole purpose being to track down unknowable objects that are out there, hiding in plain sight, to keep these items safe from the outside world . . . and the outside world safe from them.

The world of unknowable objects – those seemingly ordinary items that most people have no idea possess magical powers – has been quiet for years . . .

But just in case, there exists a secret society whose sole purpose is to gather these artefacts together, and keep them safe from the outside world. And the outside world safe from them.

Called the Society of Unknowable Objects, it meets every six months in the basement of a London bookshop, and it’s at one of these meetings that Frank Simpson, the society’s longest-standing member, reveals that a previously unknown item has surfaced in Hong Kong. And he asks the newest member, author Magda Sparks, to investigate.

Within hours of her arrival in the city, Magda is confronted by a killer who seems to know all about these unknowable objects. She manages to escape, but only by using a magical artefact of her own that the society knows nothing about.

Safely back in London, Magda learns that hers is not the only secret that’s been kept from the other members. And that the most pernicious secret of all seems to concern the very nature of the society itself.

The enormity of what Magda discovers takes her on a perilous journey – across the Atlantic to the deep south of the United States – in pursuit of an unknowable object and a seemingly unknowable individual; in pursuit of answers about her legacy and the society she serves.

Magic may be too powerful to be allowed out into the world, but there is something even more potent: the Truth . . .

Praise for Gareth Brown's The Book of Doors:

'Joyful, exuberant, and crackling with adventure. This book is as magical as those it celebrates.' STUART TURTON, author of The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle

'A stunning fever dream of a story that feels completely real – don't miss this fantastic thriller debut.' LEE CHILD

'A real page-turner - incredibly ambitious and inventive, The Book of Doors is a great read.'
ROSIE ANDREWS, author of The Leviathan
  • Published: 7 September 2025
  • ISBN: 9781787637269
  • Imprint: Bantam
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 352
  • RRP: $50.00
Categories:

About the author

Gareth Brown

Born in Falkirk, Gareth Brown wanted to be a writer from a very young age. He wrote his first (unpublished) novel when in his teens and short stories while at university. For the last twenty years he has worked in the UK Civil Service and is currently Director of Screening for NHS Scotland. An inveterate traveller, he particularly relishes the experience of arriving somewhere new: those first few hours of culture shock and noise and bustle in an unfamiliar city - a passion that influenced the writing of The Book of Doors.
Gareth Brown lives just outside Edinburgh.

portrait photo of Gareth Brown

Also by Gareth Brown

The Book of Doors
See all

Praise for The Society of Unknowable Objects

The Da Vinci Code meets magic in a rollicking tale of secrets and espionage. I loved the international settings, the diverse cast of characters, the edge-of-your-seat plot . . . a pacy, action-packed joy of a read!

FIZA SAEED McLYNN, author of The Midnight Carousel

Joyful, exuberant, and crackling with adventure. This book is as magical as those it celebrates.

STUART TURTON, author of The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle

A stunning fever dream of a story that feels completely real – don't miss this fantastic thriller debut.

LEE CHILD

A real page-turner - incredibly ambitious and inventive, The Book of Doors is a great read.

ROSIE ANDREWS, author of The Leviathan

The Society of Unknowable Objects utterly demolishes the difficult second book syndrome. A thrilling, globe-spanning adventure that wrong footed me at every turn, and like The Book of Doors, features a truly memorable villain.

ADAM SIMCOX, author of The Dying Squad

A fast-paced flight of magic, mystery and whimsy, whisking readers on an around-the-world adventure alongside a lovable cast of characters tasked with protecting the world’s most valuable secret — and perhaps keeping a few secrets of their own.

NIKKI ERLICK, author of The Measure

And acclaim for THE BOOK OF DOORS

:

Endlessly inventive, Brown transports the reader to new worlds filled with adventure and magic.

A. J. WEST, author of The Betrayal of Thomas True