Stephenie Meyer to publish ‘Midnight Sun,’ a ‘Twilight’ re-telling from Edward’s perspective

It’s official: Stephenie Meyer is publishing Midnight Sun.

The reveal came after several days of speculation that Meyer was gearing up for a new Twilight book, which was prompted by a mysterious countdown timer appearing on her website.

Related: Why do Twilight fans care about Midnight Sun so much? Here’s a look back at the book’s long history

“I am very excited to finally — finally — announce the release of Midnight Sun,” Meyer said in a video aired on Good Morning America. “It’s a crazy time right now and I wasn’t sure if it was the right time to put this book out. But some of you have been waiting for so, so long. It just didn’t seem fair to make you wait anymore.”

The book will be published by Little, Brown and Company and is expected to hit shelves on Aug. 4, 2020, according to the publisher’s website.

Check out the cover:

Here’s the book’s synopsis from the publisher as well:

When Edward Cullen and Bella Swan met in Twilight, an iconic love story was born. But until now, fans have heard only Bella’s side of the story. At last, readers can experience Edward’s version in the long-awaited companion novel, Midnight Sun.

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.

For over a decade, readers have been eagerly anticipating the arrival of Midnight Sun. Open this book and see why it was worth the wait!

The announcement was highly anticipated by Twilight fans, who have waited well over a decade for the book’s release. In the minutes leading up to the reveal, Meyer’s website crashed presumably due to a high amount of traffic.

The road to publication has been a long one. Meyer was actively working on Midnight Sun while writing the original Twilight novels. She had plans to publish the book until the incomplete manuscript leaked online in 2008. She indefinitely scrapped plans to finish and instead released the chapters for free on her website.

“I feel too sad about what has happened to continue working on Midnight Sun, and so it is on hold indefinitely,” Meyer said at the time.

When asked in 2015 about the state of the project, Meyer once again indicated that it was on hold because of Grey, a re-telling of E.L. James’ Fifty Shades of Grey through the point of view of the book’s male protagonist Christian Grey. With the Fifty Shades of Grey books originating as Twilight fanfiction, the James’ re-tellings discouraged Meyer.

Sun isn’t the first time Meyer has re-told her vampire story. In 2015, she published Life and Death: Twilight Reimagined which gender-swapped the roles of Bella and Edward, re-naming them Beau and Edythe.