Jul 14, 2017 2 min read

NEW YORK – Dave Eggers has written a fantasy novel for middle-schoolers, “The Lifters,” the first of a two-book deal with Alfred A. Knopf. “The Lifters” is scheduled for March 27, 2018, the publisher said Thursday.

Featuring illustrations by brothers Eric and Terry Fan, the book tells of a troubled boy named Granite and a girl named Catalina who through a magic door handle introduces the boy to a strange new world.

“‘The Lifters’ has been on my mind for almost 10 years,” Eggers, who has set his books everywhere from Alaska to Saudi Arabia, said in a statement. “That’s when I had the idea that a simple cupboard handle could open a hillside to a warren of kid-sized tunnels under a town – and that it would be up to these kids to keep everyone living aboveground upright and safe. My goal was to write the book I would have wanted to read when I was a middle-grader, with enough adventure and jokes and mystery to keep even an antsy reader engaged.”

Eggers’ previous books include “A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius” and “What is the What.” The Fan brothers’ credits include Chris Hadfield’s “The Darkest Dark,” Ali Benjamin’s “The Thing About Jellyfish” and a book they wrote and illustrated, “The Night Gardener.”