NEW YORK — Dave Eggers’ next literary adventure will be for a younger crowd.

The author has written a fantasy novel for middle-schoolers, The Lifters, the first of a two-book deal with Alfred A. Knopf. It is scheduled for a March 27 release, the publisher said. 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 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.”

Eggers’ previous books include A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius and What is the What.

First Published July 16, 2017, 4:00 a.m.