About Dimblehouse
A family passion for bringing books to life.
Dimblehouse was established out of a shared love of books, storytelling and the creative possibilities of publishing.
As a family-run independent publishing house, we bring together a range of interests and skills spanning writing, editing, design, marketing and the practical business of getting books into the hands of readers.
Our own publishing journey began with original fiction. Developing our books has given us an appreciation of the thought, effort and collaboration that go into creating something that readers can hold, explore and enjoy.
But our ambitions extend beyond our own books.
We would love to work with other authors, helping them explore their publishing options and bring their work to a wider audience. We believe in personal relationships, considered decisions and finding the right approach for each individual project.
We’re building something we believe in, one book and one author at a time.
The Dimblehouse Clear Language Approach
Great stories. Clearer communication.
A world of imagination open to everyone.
We believe that every child should have the opportunity to enjoy a wonderful story, regardless of how they process language or experience the world.
Some children, including many autistic readers, are confident, capable and enthusiastic readers, yet find idioms, sarcasm, wordplay and implied meanings make a story unnecessarily difficult to follow. For them, the challenge is not reading the words. It is understanding what the words are intended to mean.
- Clear, natural language, with care taken over figurative expressions.
- Meaning made clear through context, and no unnecessary ambiguity.
- Storytelling that stays engaging: humour, excitement and imaginative adventures.
It is not about making books simplistic. It is about making considered choices, so that more children can enjoy a story independently and with confidence.
Read about our Clear Language Approach
The Dimblehouse name
A place waiting to be explored
The word dimble has historical dialect associations with a wooded or shady hollow. It evokes a sense of discovery, shelter and a place waiting to be explored.
It felt like the right name for a house of stories: somewhere sheltered, where things wait to be found, and a door that opens onto other worlds.
Our emblem is both at once: an arched doorway, with a low gold light on its threshold.
Our books
Where we began
Our list begins with the books of A.R. Brown: St Elowen’s, a boarding-school series for younger readers, and The Shadows of War, a Second World War novel set in one Sussex village.
Two very different kinds of book, made with the same care.
What we care about
- Books that deserve to find their readers
- Personal relationships, rather than processes
- Considered decisions, made book by book
- Being honest about what we can and cannot do