Stephenie Meyer’s long-canceled novel Midnight Sun will finally see the light of day. This morning on Good Morning America, Meyer announced that she has completed the companion novel to Twilight, and that it’ll be published on August 4th, 2020.
For Twilight fans, the novel—which follows Edward’s perspective during Twilight—has been a long time coming. As of 2008, Meyer was working on the novel (that same year, she published the final installment of her Twilight series, Breaking Dawn, as well as her standalone science fiction novel, The Host), only to have the first twelve chapters of the novel leak online.
In response, Meyer stopped writing the book, telling Entertainment Weekly that she wasn’t in the right head space to continue work on it:
I do not feel alone with the manuscript. And I cannot write when I don’t feel alone. So my goal is to go for, like, I don’t know, two years without ever hearing the words Midnight Sun. And once I’m pretty sure that everyone’s forgotten about it, I think I’ll be able to get to the place where I’m alone with it again. Then I’ll be able to sneak in and work on it again.
Now, it seems that Meyer has found the time to complete the book. In a video call to Good Morning America, she said that “some of you have been waiting for just so, so long, it didn’t seem fair to make you wait any more.”
Little, Brown and Company posted a product page for the novel, which teases a bit more about what to expect from the book: it’ll delve into Edward’s past and explore his relationship with Bella:
This unforgettable tale as told through Edward’s eyes takes on a new and decidedly dark twist. Meeting beautiful, mysterious Bella is both the most intriguing and unnerving event he has experienced in his long life as a vampire. As we learn more fascinating details about Edward’s past and the complexity of his inner thoughts, we understand why this is the defining struggle of his life. How can he let himself fall in love with Bella when he knows that he is endangering her life?
In Midnight Sun, Stephenie Meyer transports us back to a world that has captivated millions of readers and, drawing on the classic myth of Hades and Persephone, brings us an epic novel about the profound pleasures and devastating consequences of immortal love.
The book is the latest in a handful of other major franchises to release companion or prequel novels. Suzanne Collins will publish a prequel to her Hunger Games trilogy later this month, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, while author E.L. James has published a trilogy of companion novels to her Fifty Shades of Grey series: Grey, Darker, and a yet-unpublished third novel. Presumably, the movie rights will be snapped up before too much longer.
