News
Libby Page’s THE LIFELINE published 25 April 2024
The life-affirming sequel, published by Orion, to Page's bestselling The Lido, The Lifeline finds Kate - now a new mother - bonding with a mental health nurse at her local river swimming club.
For Kate, having a newborn baby means she is almost never alone. But that doesn't mean she isn't lonely. The move from London to Somerset with her husband Jay was supposed be the start of an exciting new chapter. But sometimes she can't help but wonder if she turned the pages too soon . . .
TWO LIGHTS by James Roberts has been longlisted for the RSL Ondaatje Prize 2024.
The annual prize recognises a distinguished work of fiction, non-fiction or poetry, evoking the spirit of a place.
Two Lights is an extraordinary account of searching for the wildness left in our world – spanning continents and geological eras, skies and oceans, animals and birds, and even the planets and stars.
The 2024 RSL Ondaatje Prize Shortlist will be announced on 26 April, with the winner announced on 14 May.
Wendy Mitchell’s ONE LAST THING published in paperback 29.2.24
The last book from bestselling author and advocate Wendy Mitchell is published in paperback in February 2024.
'This beautiful book will give hope and courage to many people. An uplifting and courageous read' KATHRYN MANNIX
'Anyone who reads Mitchell's work can only admire her passion, her energy and her extraordinary courage' SUNDAY TIMES
Lorraine Candy’s memoir published in paperback 15.2.24
‘This comforting memoir will help us all feel less alone as we navigate the emotional turmoil of midlife’ Davina McCall, author of Menopausing
From the bestselling author of ‘Mum, What’s Wrong With You?’ this is a witty, compelling, honest and reassuring guide to living a magnificent midlife, published in paperback by 4th Estate.
Marc Hamer’s Spring Rain published in paperback 8.2.24
Through the prism of Throughout his journey from youth to age, which included a period living homeless in the countryside, Marc has found the answers to life's questions in the nature around him. This memoir, with line drawings by the author, encourages us back in tune with the natural world and offers both consolation and a guide to a happier life.
'Patterned with Hamer's gifts for observation, compression, and tone' New Yorker
Tony King’s The Tastemaker out in paperback 1 February 2024
From the Beatles to Elton John and the Rolling Stones, Tony King has been a confidante and creative muse for some of the world’s greatest artists. Now, for the first time, he tells his story.
“This is a brilliant book by a brilliant man. A magician with perfect taste. Thank God I met him. He is gold dust!”- Sir Elton John
September Publishing has pre-empted Manda Scott’s new novel, Any Human Power.
Manda’s sixteenth book is a visionary, myth-infused tour-de-force about a grandmother and her family who find themselves at the centre of a global uprising. It will be published in September 2024.
Any Human Power is a mythic novel in the best sense – grand in scope, rich in brave characters that are breathing new life into the old wisdoms, dreaming their way into a better future. It is a paean to possibility, a call to action wrapped in a thriller, encased in myth and magic.
Bodley Head pre-empts Torsten Bell’s book on British economy and society
In one of her first commissions for The Bodley Head, commissioning editor Alice Skinner pre-empted world all-language rights to Great Britain? How to Get Our Future Back. The book, described as "both a clear-eyed and rigorous diagnosis of the problems facing our country", will be published in hardback, e-book and audiobook formats in June 2024.
Bell is the chief executive of the Resolution Foundation, a research charity working to raise the living standards of households on low to middle incomes. In this treasure trove of analysis, he argues that our era of crisis and cynicism needs neither utopia nor nostalgia, but a practical patriotism of radical incrementalism to raise the living standards of middle- and lower-income households.
Transworld scoops three books from Clover Stroud
Transworld has bought three-books by memoirist Clover Stroud, author of Wainwright Prize-shortlisted The Wild Other (Hodder Paperbacks).
Non-fiction publisher Susanna Wadeson acquired UK and Commonwealth rights in a six-figure deal.
The first book, The Giant on the Skyline: On Home, Belonging and Learning to Let Go, will be published as a Doubleday hardback on 9th May 2024. It examines the questions: What is a home? Where is home when a family is split? And can you make a home wherever you find yourself?"
Clover said "I hope that each book I write gets a little closer to expressing more about what it is to be human, and how appalling and luscious all our lives are. In The Giant on the Skyline I’ve gone deep into what home means, and how a sense of place imprints itself in our hearts to form some of our most powerful memories.”
Stacey Duiguid’s IN PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS published in hardback 14.9.23
You are not alone on this journey of womanhood and we all have the right to pursue our own happiness, or perhaps our own contentment. Because happy endings, not the type you pay for but the state of mind, are they possible to ever really find? Have you?
'Gripping - sometimes sad, often very funny and always jaw-droppingly honest' THE TIMES
Stacey’s debut book is published by Piatkus.
THE VINTAGE SHOP from Libby Page released in paperback 20 July 2023
‘Absorbing, thoughtful and moving, The Vintage Shop of Second Chances is a wonderfully engaging, feelgood read that you'll want to come back to again and again’ ― Mike Gayle
Winnie M Li’s COMPLICIT published in paperback 20.7.23
'A must-read' Stylist
'Powerful' Harriet Tyce
'A spellbinding novel' The Irish Times
'Thrilling' Heat
'Compulsive' John Marrs
'Dazzling' Chris Whitaker
'Grippingly readable' The Daily Mirror
'A rollercoaster read' Elle
Game on Puppy! enters Sunday Times Bestseller list at no4 three days after publication
I’m delighted that this lovely book from experts Tom Mitchell and Lauren Langman has become an instant bestseller. An essential for anyone with a new puppy!
Game on Puppy! from Absolute Dogs published in paperback 22.6.23
Written by Dr Tom Mitchell, world-renowned vet and clinical animal behaviourist, and Lauren Langman, one of the UK's most successful dog trainers and Crufts winner, Game On, Puppy! leads you through everything you need to know about training your dog using their unique games-based approach, all backed up by the latest science.
Wendy Mitchell’s last book published by Bloomsbury 22.6.23
Wendy Mitchell doesn't fear anything anymore. After her diagnosis of young-onset dementia in 2014, all of Wendy's old fears - the dark, animals - melted away. What more was there to be afraid of when she faced her worst fear: losing her own mind?
She is known for talking about living with dementia, but now - while she is still able to - she explores dying with it. In One Last Thing, Wendy embarks on a journey to explore all angles of death: how we can prepare for it, how we talk about it with our loved ones and how we can be empowered to make our own choices.
With conversations on the topic of assisted dying, from those who are fighting to make it legal to those vehemently opposed to its practice, Wendy reminds us that to get on with the business of living, we need to talk about death.
Tanya Shadrick’s inspiring memoir published in paperback April 2023
A sublimely written account of refusing to be defined by social constructs and embracing life-enhancing change, The Cure for Sleep is a poignant and inspiring slice of literary memoir. * WATERSTONES, Non-Fiction Books of 2022 *
This hypnotically written debut memoir, all about claiming a bolder, more risk-taking life, reads like a fable. -- Jessie Thompson * EVENING STANDARD, The best non fiction books to look out for in 2022 *
Transworld acquires a “searing” memoir of racism and misogyny by Nusrit Mehtab.
Editor Sharika Teelwah acquired world all language rights]for publication by Torva in 2024. It will be co-written with Anna Wharton.
When Nusrit joined the police force in the late 1980s, the organisation was rife with racism and misogyny. After 30 years, she left the Met, initiating an employment tribunal against them for racism and misogyny which was settled out of court.
Full of gritty and shocking stories from the heart of the organisation, this book will spark necessary conversations about the state of our police force. and take a critical look at the deeply flawed institution that is supposed to serve and protect us.
Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah’s WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT SEX North American rights sold to Astra House.
In her second book, Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah explores indigenous African knowledge about sex for what it offers the contemporary African woman.
UK rights are held by Dialogue Books, and publication is planned for 2025.
Claer Barrett’s financial self-help book published 16 March 2023
Claer Barrett unveils the reasons why so many of us lack confidence, and why we stay stuck in financial paralysis. From revealing what 'credit' really means (spoiler alert, it's not as positive as they'd like you to think) to the lie that you can easily make money off crypto, she'll debunk the pervasive money myths perpetuated by those who profit the most from our ignorance.
A short and indispensable whistle-stop tour through the most efficient habits that unlock financial independence from beloved money-agony-aunt.
Wendy Mitchell’s WHAT I WISH PEOPLE KNEW ABOUT DEMENTIA paperback enters Sunday Times Bestseller list at no10
Wise, practical and life affirming, What I Wish People Knew About Dementia combines anecdotes, research and Wendy Mitchell's own brilliant wit and wisdom to tell readers exactly what she wishes they knew about dementia.
FIERCE APPETITES published in paperback 2.3.23
'I loved this luminous, radical book about bodies in time. It is a deeply personal history, that simultaneously brings medieval myth and poetry to breathing, bleeding life. An education for the mind and the heart' Clare Pollard
'Highly original . . . engagingly candid [and] thought-provoking' Irish Independent
'An eloquent plea for the value of curiosity and the life of the mind, standing up the robustness of scholarship against the frailty of individuals, the resilience of myth against brittle daily preoccupations. It's an agile story, irreverent, capacious and constantly surprising: like nothing else you will read' Hilary Mantel
James Roberts’ TWO LIGHTS published by September Publishing, 2.3.23
An extraordinary account of searching for the wildness left in our world - spanning continents and geological eras, skies and oceans, animals and birds, and even the planets and stars.
With dizzying acuity and insight Roberts paints a portrait of a life and its landscapes, creating precious connections with wild creatures and places, from swans in the Cambrian Mountains to wolves in the Pacific Northwest. By walking at dawn and dusk, in the two lights of awakening and deepening, through the stripped, windswept hills of Wales, and the jungles and savannahs of Africa, he tries to navigate from a soul-stripping sense of loss towards hope in the future.
Libby Page’s The Vintage Shop of Second Chances published by Orion, February 2023
'Absorbing, thoughtful and moving, The Vintage Shop of Second Chances is a wonderfully engaging, feelgood read that you'll want to come back to again and again.' - Mike Gayle
Together, can three women find the answers they are searching for and unlock a second chance at a new life?
It's never too late to start again.
Marc Hamer’s Spring Rain published by Vintage
Marc has always found the answers to life's questions in the natural world, whether as a child watching ants, as a young man living rough in the countryside, or as a professional gardener creating places of calm and restoration for others. Now in his sixties, he is finally creating a garden for himself, at his home in Cardiff. In this beautiful and moving memoir, he considers what he has learned, from the spring of youth to his autumn years, and reflects on how we reconcile our childhoods with where we end up.
Spring Rain encourages us back in tune with the natural world and offers both consolation and a guide to a happier life.
Tony King’s rock and roll memoir published 2 February 2023
From the Beatles to Elton John, Tony King has worked with some of the very biggest names in popular music. The Tastemaker charts the singular life of a man who has been at the beating heart of music's most iconic moments for over sixty years.
Suffused with Tony King's disarming warmth and unparalleled charisma - and at times profoundly moving - The Tastemaker paints an intimate portrait of a music legend and captures the unpredictable world he stamped his indelible mark upon.
Wendy Mitchell’s Sunday Times Bestseller about dementia out now in paperback, February 2023
Wise, practical and life affirming, What I Wish People Knew About Dementia combines anecdotes, research and Wendy Mitchell's own brilliant wit and wisdom to tell readers exactly what she wishes they knew about dementia.
Clover Stroud’s The Red of My Blood published in paperback, February 2023
“The Red of my Blood is one of the most haunting, gripping books I've read in recent memory. Stroud's writing about overwhelming loss is knife-sharp, beautiful, and profound. This is a masterful memoir, which will echo with its readers for a long time.” -- Madeline Miller, author of The Song of Achilles and Circe
Simon & Schuster's Scribner to publish two new novels from Matson Taylor
The deal saw Editorial Director Chris White acquiring World Rights. The first book,a standalone historical novel set in 1970s Rome, will bea published as lead title in Spring 2025 with the second scheduled for 2026.
White said: "Working with Matson and publishing his Evie Epworth novels is a great privilege.Like his books, Matson brings immense joy wherever he goes. The platform he has built, both as a Richard & Judy Book Club author and in particular with independent booksellers, is unrivalled and his next two books, I am certain,are going to be very special publications indeed."
Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah included on BBC’s 2022 list of inspirising and influential women
The BBC has revealed its list of 100 inspiring and influential women from around the world for 2022.
Among them are global music phenomenon Billie Eilish, Ukraine’s First Lady Olena Zelenska, actresses Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Selma Blair, the ‘tsarina of Russian pop’ Alla Pugacheva, Iranian climber Elnaz Rekabi, record-breaking triple jump athlete Yulimar Rojas, and Ghanaian author Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah.
Sarah Winman’s STILL LIFE selected for Waterstones best paperbacks of 2022 list
Another plaudit for Sarah’s wonderful novel, chosen for the prestigious Waterstones Best Paperbacks of the Year list.
Graham Norton said of the book ‘The sheer joy in Sarah Winman’s storytelling is completely infectious. I’ve loved spending time with this unforgettable cast of characters in extraordinary times and places.’
Dialogue has signed We Need to Talk About Sex by Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah
Sharmaine Lovegrove, m.d., acquired UK, Europe and Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada.We Need to Talk About Sex will be published in spring 2025.
Nana said: “I am so excited to be working on this new book. In many ways it represents Sankofa — an opportunity to explore indigenous African knowledge around sex and sexualities, and what lessons and practices these hold for our contemporary times."
Ebury Edge has pre-empted Claer Barrett’s book
Géraldine Collard, commissioning editor, acquired UK and Commonwealth rights for Claer’s “essential” book What They Don’t Teach You About Money: Seven Habits that Unlock Financial Independence. It will be published in paperback on 16th March 2023.
What They Don’t Teach You About Money is a “short and indispensable” book of the most efficient financial habits and the most common monetary problems. Barrett also looks at the psychology behind money issues such as “why we feel we have to keep up with the Joneses” and why get-rich-quick schemes are so compelling.
Elizabeth Boyle shortlisted for 2022 Irish Book Award
FIERCE APPETITES has been shortlisted for the Odgers Berndtson Non-fiction Book of the Year. Not only does it include Elizabeth’s dazzling accounts of ancient stories, familiar and obscure, from Ireland and further afield, but she also uses her historical learning to grapple with the raw and urgent questions she faces, questions that have bedevilled people in every age. She writes on grief, addiction, family breakdown, the complexities of motherhood, love and sex, memory, class, education, travel (and staying put) with unflinching honesty, deep compassion and occasional dark humour.
Brendan Corbett, Chairperson of the An Post Irish Book Awards, said: “This year’s shortlist, once again, displays the talent of Irish writers and exemplifies the diversity of Ireland’s literary culture. “
Alice Lascelles’ THE COCKTAIL EDIT published 13.10.22
Cocktails should be simple. Acclaimed drinks writer Alice Lascelles knows everything there is to know about making delicious drinks at home with minimal equipment and fuss.
The Cocktail Edit is built around a ‘capsule collection’ of 12 classic cocktails – each of these is followed by six twists, plus tips and inspiration for creating many more.
It’s a guide brimming with trade secrets on everything from choosing the best-value spirits to making cocktails for a party; written in a conversational style, and illustrated with beautiful photography, The Cocktail Edit is practical, opinionated and fun.
Piatkus pre-empts Stacey Duguid’s book, October 2022
Jillian Young, editorial director at Piatkus non-fiction, acquired UK and Commonwealth rights from Robert Caskie at Robert Caskie Ltd for publication in June 2023.
The publisher’s synopsis reads: “Two years ago, Stacey Duguid’s happily ever after imploded messily, snottily, disastrously, and she is still clearing up the debris. In Pursuit of Happiness will bring you alongside Stacey’s honest and often humorous journey of divorce and dating, or, of mating, motherhood, marriage, money and mayhem.
Duguid said: “To the strangers with whom I exchanged vulnerable messages in the dead of night, women who described in heart-breaking micro-detail how newly constructed lives of difficult custodial arrangements and empty beds in children’s rooms rendered them without a sense of purpose, I am writing this book for you.”
David Micklem shortlisted for Bristol Short Story Prize.
David’s short story will feature in the 15th volume of the Bristol Short Story Prize Anthology, to be published on 15 October by Tangent Books. He is shortlisted for the award, and the winner will be announced on the publication date. The prize is an annual international writing competition open to all published and unpublished, UK and non-UK based writers.
Claer Barrett named pensions journalist of the year 2022
Claer has been awarded Pensions Journalist of the Year 2022 at the Willis Towers Watson Media Awards, for her columns about defined contribution schemes. The judges described Claer as “an experienced personal finance journalist who has an ability to bring it home to the reader that everyone of working age is involved in pensions.” They noted how she has “made it her mission to convert the reluctant, and equip readers with the information they need.” Claer also won an aware at the 2022 AIC Press Awards for her FT column.
Iqbal Hussein shortlisted for Evening Standard Stories Competition and festival.
The Evening Standard Stories Competition aims to discover the next generation of authentic voices. By asking ‘What’s Your Story?’, it encourages emerging talent to tell their individual stories across a myriad of creative storytelling platforms.
The winner and two runners up will be announced at the Stories Competition Reveal Party on the 22 September 2022.
Pragya Agarwal’s latest book published 1 September 2022
We've all heard the sayings that girls should be 'sugar and spice and all things nice', while 'boys don't cry'. In Hysterical, Pragya Agarwal dives deep into the history and science that has determined the gendering of emotions to ask whether there is any truth in the notion of innate differences between the male and female experience of emotions. She examines the impact this has on men and women - especially the role it has played in the subjugation of women throughout history - and how a future where emotions are ungendered might look.
HYSTERICAL is published by Canongate.
THE SEX LIVES OF AFRICAN WOMAN published in paperback 7.7.22
Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah’s powerful book, amplifying phenomenal women from across the African continent and its global diaspora as they speak to empowering, experimental and inspirational experiences of sex, sexualities and relationships, is out now in paperback.
These personal stories reveal a mind-blowing variety of sexualities, sex lives and relationships. Fascinating. -- Bernardine Evaristo
A boundary-breaking, fascinating and deeply affirming set of accounts that emphasises the necessity of allowing African women to tell the stories of their sexuality on their own terms -- Otegha Uwagba
Winnie M Li’s timely thriller published June 2022
Shining a spotlight on misogyny and abuse in the film industry, COMPLICIT delivers a slow-burning tale of a female former actor once on the cusp of stardom and the very real horrors women experience in the world built by and for powerful men.
'Winnie's skill as a writer is to forge out of a familiar film story one that is beautifully unique. It haunted me when I was away from it. An emotionally complex story, it ripples with foreboding and tension. Utterly compulsive reading.' - Sarah Winman
Louis Theroux’s covid memoir out in paperback
Theroux the Keyhole is an honest and hilarious diary of a man attempting to navigate the perils of work and family life in Covid World. Why is his wife so intolerant of his obsession with Joe Wicks’s daily workouts? Can he reinvent himself as a podcast host? Why has the internet gone nuts for his old journalistic compadre Joe Exotic? And will his teenage sons ever see him as anything other than ‘cringe’?
This is Louis at his insightful best, as he faces unforeseen new challenges and wonders why it took a pandemic for him to learn that what really matters in life is right in front of him.
Alice Lascelles selected as finalist for Guild of Food Writers 25th Anniversary Awards
Alice has been shortlisted for the 2022 GFW Awards for for articles published in the Financial Times and Club Oenologique.
Sarah Winman’s magnificent STILL LIFE shortlisted for the Indie Book Awards 2022
Sarah’s novel joins books from an extraordinarily strong group of writers in the 2022 Indie Book Awards shortlist.
More bestseller success for Robert Caskie authors
I’m delighted to share that Sarah Winman’s STILL LIFE is number 4 in the Sunday Times bestseller paperback fiction this week (which is it’s 3rd week in top 10) and THE RED OF MY BLOOD by Clover Stroud has entered at number 9 in the Sunday Times hardback non-fiction bestseller list.
FIERCE APPETITES by Elizabeth Boyle is in its third week in the Irish Times top 10 at number 9.
Clover Stroud’s ‘brutal, beautiful’ memoir published
'With brutal, beautiful honesty, Clover articulates how bereavement shocks and dislocates - and in all the pain, there's SO much life.' MARIAN KEYES
A few weeks before Christmas, Clover's sister died of breast cancer, aged forty-six. Just days before, she had been given years to live. Her sudden death split Clover's life apart. The Red of My Blood charts Clover's fearless passage through the first year after her sister's death.
It is a book about what life feels like when death interrupts it, and about bearing the unbearable and describing an experience that seems beyond words. Lyrical, hopeful, it is also about the magical way in which death and life exist so vividly beside one another, and the wonder of being human.
Elizabeth Boyle’s FIERCE APPETITES published
'Like nothing else you will read' Hilary Mantel
FIERCE APPETITES is an exhilarating and deeply humane book. Not only does Elizabeth Boyle write dazzling accounts of ancient stories, familiar and obscure, from Ireland and further afield, but she uses her historical learning to grapple with the raw and urgent questions she faces, questions that have bedevilled people in every age. She writes on grief, addiction, family breakdown, the complexities of motherhood, love and sex, memory, class, education, travel (and staying put) with unflinching honesty, deep compassion and occasional dark humour.
FIERCE APPETITES went straight to number 4 in the non-fiction paperback chart in Ireland 3 days after publication.
Three paperbacks from Robert Caskie authors published 3.3.22
Three wonderful books are published today in paperback.
'A gorgeous, generous story of kind hearts and kindred spirits' Daily Mirror
'Jackie Clune's writing always make me roar with laughter' Nigella Lawson
'The mothering manual we all need' Claudia Winkleman
New book from Wendy Mitchell hits the Sunday Times Bestseller List
“Essential reading for those living with dementia, those who support them, professionals working in the field and any 'curious individual' . . . Her message for those given a dementia diagnosis is to never give up on themselves ― Sunday Times Magazine”
Tanya Shadrick’s fable-like memoir published by W&N,
20 January 2022
On return from near-death, Tanya Shadrick vows to stop sleepwalking through life. To take more risks, like the characters in the fairy tales she loved as a small girl, before loss and fear had her retreat into routine and daydreams.
Around the care of young children, she starts to play with the shape and scale of her days: to stray from the path, get lost in the woods, make bargains with strangers.
As she moves beyond her respectable roles as worker, wife and mother in a small town, Tanya learns what it takes – and costs – to break the spell of longing for love, approval, safety, rescue.
Wendy Mitchell’s second book published by Bloomsbury
WHAT I WISH PEOPLE KNEW ABOUT DEMENTIA is a wise, practical and life affirming new book from Sunday Times Bestselling author Wendy Mitchell. The new title published by Bloomsbury on 20 January 2022 combines anecdotes, research and Wendy’s own brilliant wit and wisdom to tell readers exactly what she wishes they knew about dementia.
When Wendy was diagnosed with young-onset dementia at the age of fifty-eight, her brain was overwhelmed with images of the last stages of the disease - those familiar tropes, shortcuts and clichés that we are fed by the media, or even our own health professionals. But her diagnosis far from represented the end of her life. Instead, it was the start of a very different one.
Marc Hamer’s SEED TO DUST out in paperback
In this life-enhancing book Marc takes us month-by-month through his experiences both working in the garden and outside it, as the seasons' changes bring new plants and wildlife to the fore and lead him to reflect on his past and future. Through his peaceful and meditative prose we learn about gardening folklore and wisdom, the joys of manual labour, his path from solitary homelessness to family contentment and the cycle of growth and decay that runs through both the garden's life and our own.
Pragya Agarwal’s (M)OTHERHOOD published in paperback
"Riveting. Agarwal writes with searing honesty and tenderness about the joys and agonies of becoming a mother, of trying and failing to conceive again, and then of pursuing a route to motherhood that's widely seen as taboo . . . Agarwal writes beautifully about her own complicated experience" ― Guardian
STILL LIFE chosen as Dymocks Books 2021 Book of the Year
They said “This book has touched the hearts of our Dymocks booksellers and is a joyful story, which has really resonated with our community in COVID times. Our booksellers have described it as ‘my favourite book of 2021’, ‘so skilful, so uplifting’ and have said ‘I just did not want to leave these amazing characters when the book ended.’ Still Life is sure to go down as a classic of our time.”
Watch Sarah accept the award by clicking the button
Louis Theroux’s latest book published
THEROUX THE KEYHOLE is an honest, hilarious and ultimately heartwarming diary of the weirdness of family life in Covid World. A wife intolerant of his obsession with Joe Wicks’ daily workouts. Two teenage sons, inseparable from their videogames, for whom he is increasingly 'cringe'. A five-year-old happily spamming out videos on his own new TikTok account while on holiday with his oblivious family.
STILL LIFE wins 2021 Books Are My Bag Readers Award for Fiction
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Good Morning America chooses STILL LIFE for November bookclub
"GMA's" Book Club pick for November is the beautiful and big-hearted story of people brought together by love, war and art, from Sarah Winman.
STILL LIFE chosen for Dymocks Book of the Year 2021 shortlist
Dymocks, Australia’s largest bookselling chain, has announced their best books of the year - as selected by their booksellers across the country. Tim, Dymocks Brand and Content Manager said "This transportive and engulfing story had me walking the streets of Florence and sat in the corner of a rundown London pub with these lovable and memorable characters. Still Life is wholly arresting with the vignettes on the page coming to life like an award-winning film. "
Sarah Winman wins inaugural InWords Literary Award
The InWords Literary Award (TILA) is a new prize worth £10,000 for a novel published in English or a writer’s body of work, and has been awarded to Sarah Winman for her novel STILL LIFE.
Its creators and funders are life patrons of Cheltenham Festivals who wish to remain anonymous. They said "Still Life has brought joy and pleasure to so many readers in these strange and difficult times. The novel is an eloquent love letter to Florence, but more than that, it is a testimony to the value of kindness, the bonds of love and friendship among even unlikely combinations of people through vicissitudes great and small, and the timelessness and comfort of beauty and art. It is transcendent, utterly humane and beautifully written. ”
Sarah Winman’s STILL LIFE chosen for new series of BBC book club with Sara Cox
Between the Covers is the nation’s TV bookclub, hosted by Sara Cox. Sarah Winman’s beautiful big hearted novel joins the line up this Autumn.
Louis Theroux signs deal with Pan Macmillan for new book on his family in the time of Covid
Publishing director Ingrid Connell has acquired UK and Commonwealth rights, and the book will be released on 11th November.
THEROUX THE KEYHOLE is an honest, hilarious and ultimately heartwarming diary of the weirdness of Louis Theroux’s family life in Covid world. A wife intolerant of his obsession with Joe Wicks’ daily workouts. Two teenage sons, inseparable from their video games, for whom he is increasingly ‘cringe’. A five-year-old happily spamming out videos on his own new TikTok account while on holiday with his oblivious family.”
Robert Caskie Ltd sponsors Marc Hamer’s over 40s non-fiction writing competition
I’m delighted to sponsor Marc Hamer’s new prize for over 40s writing non-fiction.
Nearly always when you read a book, it has some part of the author in there, not necessarily autobiographically, but their experience, of life, love, or death. Age can be a real benefit because you have a much broader life experience.
Marc Hamer’s SEED TO DUST shortlisted for the 2021 Wainright Prize
Now in its eighth year, the prize is awarded annually to the books which most successfully inspire readers to explore the outdoors and to nurture a respect for the natural world. The titles selected showcase a diverse group of writers and celebrate the wonder and awe of green spaces and natures’ creatures through the prism of the authors’ lives.
Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah’s debut published
THE SEX LIVES OF AFRICAN WOMEN provides a deep insight into women's quest for freedom, highlights the complex tapestry of African women's sexuality, and bestows upon all women inspirational examples to live a truly liberated life.
Many of the women who tell their stories in this collection recall the journeys they have travelled in order to own their own sexualities. From finding queer community in Egypt to living a polyamorous life in Senegal to understanding the intersectionality of religion and pleasure in Cameroon to choosing to leave relationships that no longer serve them, these narratives are as individual and illuminating as the women who share them.
Michael Cashman’s ONE OF THEM longlisted for 2021 Polari Prize
We are delighted that Michael Cashman’s memoir has been longlisted for The Polari First Book Prize 2021. The Polari First Book Prize and the Polari Prize are the UK’s only dedicated awards for LGBTQ+ literature.
ONE OF THEM contains as many multitudes as its author: glorious nostalgia, showbiz gossip and a stirring history of a civil rights movement. And above all things, it is a love story - a tender account of a partnership that changed the world. It joins fiction, poetry and graphic novels on the eclectic and diverse 2021 longlists.
THE ISLAND HOME from Libby Page published
Libby Page’s heartwarming story of families and community is out now. Following a mother and daughter who move from London to a small isle off the Scottish coast, The Island is a tender feel-good story of family bonds, community and coming to terms with the past from the bestselling author of The Lido.
The perfect roadmap to a future full of hope and love, THE ISLAND HOME has gained great critical acclaim already.
Emma Barnett’s ABOUT BLOODY TIME out in paperback
Revised and updated with a new chapter, Emma Barnett’s intimate and informative book about periods is out in paperback now.
In this frank, funny rallying cry, Emma Barnett shares her story, as well as those of others, to ask why we’ve clammed up about menstruation. She’ll make you laugh, weep, and maybe squirm, about the natural process that nobody talks about, and smash this taboo once and for all.
Marc Hamer’s SEED TO DUST longlisted for the 2021 Wainwright Prize
The Wainwright Prize for UK Nature Writing is awarded annually to the book which most successfully inspires readers to explore the outdoors and to nurture a respect for the natural world.
The prize shortlist will be announced on August 4th and the winners’ announcement will be made live on September 7th.
Lorraine Candy’s MUM, WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOU published
Parenting columnist Lorraine Candy, a mum of four (including three teens), has written a warm and witty family memoir to lead mothers of teen daughters to a more harmonious parenting place. Alongside a wealth of hilarious personal anecdotes, Lorraine offers useful, easy-to-follow, well-researched guidance from experts.
Sarah Winman’s
STILL LIFE makes the Sunday Times Bestseller list
The sweeping take of love and joy has instantly made the Sunday Times Bestseller list.
Pragya Agarwal’s (M)OTHERHOOD published
In a world where women have more choices than ever, society nevertheless continues to exert the stigma and pressures of less enlightened times when it comes to having children. We define women by whether they embrace or reject motherhood; whether they can give birth or not.
Extremely open in its honesty and meticulously researched, (M)otherhood probes themes of infertility, childbirth and reproductive justice, and makes a powerful and urgent argument for the need to tackle society's obsession with women's bodies and fertility.
Sarah Winman’s STILL LIFE published
From the author of When God was a Rabbit and Tin Man, Still Life is a big-hearted story of people brought together by love, war, art and the ghost of E.M. Forster.
1944, in the ruined wine cellar of a Tuscan villa, as bombs fall around them, two strangers meet and share an extraordinary evening.
Ulysses Temper is a young British soldier, Evelyn Skinner is a sexagenarian art historian and possible spy. Evelyn’s talk of truth and beauty plants a seed in Ulysses’ mind that will shape the trajectory of his life – and of those who love him – for the next four decades.
Moving from the Tuscan Hills and piazzas of Florence, to the smog of London’s East End, Still Life is a sweeping, joyful novel about beauty, love, family and fate.
Michael Cashman’s memoir shortlisted for RSL Christopher Bland Prize
Michael Cashman’s powerful debut has been shortlisted for the RSL Christopher Bland Prize 2021. The prize is an annual award of £10,000 to a debut novelist or non-fiction writer first published aged 50 or over.
His book joins five others on the shortlist. This year’s judges are Mary Beard (Chair), Monica Ali, Georgia Byng and Ben Hunte. The winner will be announced on 3 June.
Ece Temelkuran’s Together published
This is not about how we messed things up. This is about what kind of world we want to live in now, and the joy we can take in finding our dignity again.
In 2020 protest movements across the world revealed the inequalities sewn into the fabric of society. The wildfires that ravaged Australia and California made it clear we are in the middle of a climate catastrophe. The pandemic showed us all just how precarious our economies really are, and the conspiracy theories surrounding the US election proved the same of our democracies.
Ece Temelkuran puts forward a compelling new narrative for our current moment, not for some idealised future but for right now. Above all, this book asks you to choose to have faith in the other human beings we share this planet with.
Harvill Secker lands nature writer Hamer's 'life-affirming' memoir
Harvill Secker has landed Tales of Spring Rain from acclaimed nature writer Marc Hamer. Liz Foley, publishing director, has acquired world English language rights. Publication is set for spring 2023.
The publisher said: “In Tales of Spring Rain Hamer considers age and contentment and how we reconcile our sense of ourselves as children with where we have ended up as adults. He weaves practical gardening knowledge through these two meditative memoir strands as he describes the planning and planting of his new small garden near Cardiff.”
Marc’s first book, A Life in Nature: or How to Catch a Mole (Vintage), was longlisted for the Wainwright Prize in 2020.
Jackie Clune’s debut novel out now in paperback
The book Nigella Lawson has called obligatory reading for all parents of teenagers is now out in paperback.
I'm Just A Teenage Punchbag is a laugh-out-loud, sob-on-the bus journey through the so-called life of a middle-aged mother of teenagers.
Ciara is mother to three ungrateful, entitled teenagers,
Faber acquires memoir from fabled music-industry figure Tony King, due for publication in 2023.
Alexa von Hirschberg pre-empted World All Languages rights based, unusually, on a nine-minute video submission.
Confidante and creative muse for some of the world’s greatest artists, including Elton John, Freddie Mercury and John Lennon, Tony King has a story unlike any other. For over six decades, he has been at the beating heart of the most iconic musical moments and this story will be essential reading.
Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah’s THE SEX LIVES OF AFRICAN WOMEN to be published by Astra House in North America
The confessional testimony of the many expressions of love and desire from women across the African continent and diaspora was bought at auction and will be published in Spring 2022.
Winnie M Li’s thriller goes in 5 way auction for North American rights
Winnie M Li’s #MeToo-inspired novel has sold in the US to Emily Bestler Books/Atria at Simon & Schuster for “a substantial" six-figure sum in a five-way auction with several other major territories being finalised.
North American rights for Complicit have sold in a hotly fought auction to Emily Bestler, senior vice-president and editor-in-chief at Emily Bestler Books/Atria at Simon & Schuster in a two-book deal. The deal was struck by Jessica Purdue, rights director at Orion.
Margaret Reynold’s powerful memoir published
How to find an outlet for a love that demands expression? Single, in her mid-forties and having experienced a sudden early menopause, the realisation comes to Peggy quietly, and clearly, she decides to adopt a child. But the preparation is arduous and the scrutiny intense. There are questions about past lives, about capability and expectations.
Asking big questions about identity and belonging, as well as about what makes a mother - and a home - THE WILD TRACK is a beautiful meditation on how the legacies of childhood might be overcome by a mother's determination to love.
Libby Pages’ novel about friendship, life and love published in paperback
Libby Pages’ THE 24-HOUR CAFE is an uplifting story of friendship, hope and following your dreams, set over one single day.
Day and night, Stella's Café opens its doors to the lonely and the lost, the morning people and the night owls. It's a place where everyone is always welcome, where life can wait at the door.
Michael Cashman’s ONE OF THEM published in paperback
Michael Cashman has lived many lives, all of them remarkable: beloved actor of stage and screen; campaigner for gay rights; MEP; and life peer.
ONE OF THEM contains as many multitudes as its author: glorious nostalgia, wicked showbiz gossip, a stirring history of a civil rights movement, a sorrowfully clear-eyed exposition of Britain's standing in Europe, and an unforgettable love story. Told with warmth, wit and humanity, it is an account of a life lived both left-of-field and firmly embedded in the heart of all that makes Britain liberal and good.
Orion signs Winnie M Li’s new book, COMPLICIT, in 48-hour pre-empt
Orion Fiction has bought Winnie M Li’s new book for a six figure sum within 48 hours of receiving the manuscript, in a two-book deal.
COMPLICIT explores questions raised by the #MeToo movement, and the dark side of Hollywood.
James Roberts’ debut acquired by September Publishing
September Publishing will publish James Roberts’ non-fiction debut TWO LIGHTS in 2022.
TWO LIGHTS uses dawn and dusk as a prism through which to explore landscape, wildlife and our human responses and connections to the natural world. With interwoven strands of personal reflection and story, the book ranges continents - from the Welsh Black Mountains to the Great Rift Valley, through English dusks and endless Arctic dawns.
Marc Hamer’s Seed To Dust published
Marc Hamer’s second book was published in January 2021 by Harvill Secker. Marc has designed and nurtured 12 acres of garden for over two decades. It is rarely visited so he is the only person who fully knows its secrets, but it is not his own. His relationship with the garden’s owner is both distant and curiously intimate.
In this life-enhancing book he takes us month-by-month through his experiences, as the seasons’ changes bring new plants and wildlife to the fore and lead him to reflect on his past and future. Through his peaceful and meditative prose we learn about gardening folklore and wisdom, the joys of manual labour, his path from solitary homelessness to family contentment and the cycle of growth and decay that runs through both the garden’s life and our own.
New book from Pragya Agarwal published
Behavioural and data scientist Dr Pragya Agarwal’s latest title is out now from Dialogue Books. Wish We Knew What to Say is a timely and urgent book that gives scenarios, questions, thought starters, resources and advice in an accessible manner on how to tackle tricky conversations around race and racism with confidence and awareness. it brings in the science of how children perceive race and form racial identity, combining it with personal stories and experiences to create a handy guide that every parent would refer to again and again.
Wish We Knew What to Say will help all parents, carers and educators give children the tools and vocabulary to talk about people's differences and similarities in an open, non-judgemental, curious way, and help them address any unfairness they might see or encounter.
A Life in Nature out in paperback
Marc Hamer’s beautiful book, A LIFE IN NATURE, is out now in paperback. At the age of sixteen, Marc left home with only a rucksack and started walking. By day, he observed the animals and birds. By night, he slept under hedges, in woodlands and on riverbanks. It was the beginning of a life in nature.
This beautiful, meditative book explores what nature can teach us about ourselves and our search for contentment. It is a celebration of living peacefully and finding joy in the world around us.
'It is rare to encounter such respect and understanding of nature' Rosamund Young, author of The Secret Life of Cows
** Longlisted for The Wainwright Prize 2019 **
Paul Behrens’ debut published
Indigo Press have published Paul Behrens’ debut book, THE BEST OF TIMES, THE WORST OF TIMES: FUTURES FROM THE FRONTIERS OF CLIMATE. The environmental emergency is the greatest threat we face. Preventing it will require an unprecedented political and social response. And yet, there is still hope. Academic, physicist, environmental expert and award-winning science communicator Paul Behrens presents a radical analysis of a civilisation on the brink of catastrophe. Setting out the pressing existential threats we face, he writes, in alternating chapters, of what the future could look like at its most pessimistic and hopeful. He argues that structural problems need structural solutions, and examines critical areas in which political will is required, including women's education, food and energy security, biodiversity and economics.
Julian Hoffman - Wainright Prize
Julian Hoffman was Highly Commended for the brand new Wainright Prize for Writing on Global Conservation. The judges felt that IRREPLACEABLE is a powerful and important book that ensured there was plenty to debate at judges meetings. The prize celebrates efforts in or, studies relating to conservation or climate change as it affects nature and the outdoors.
Tin Man Optioned by Hillbilly Films
Film rights have been sold for Sarah Winman’s TIN MAN, a heartbreaking celebration of love in all its forms, which was shortlisted for the 2017 Costa Novel Award.
Hillbilly Films makes high end, critically acclaimed and award-winning feature films and television drama. Hillbilly seeks out projects that offer up something different – a fresh perspective, characters not seen before, stories that offer a sideways glance at the world. Co-founders Polly Leys and Kate Norrish are passionate about their work and proud of their reputation for being a nurturing and supportive home for new and emerging writers and directors.
Netflix to make Lost Dog movie
Netflix has won a competitive auction for rights to feel-good rom-com LOST DOG: A LOVE STORY, an adaptation of Kate Spicer’s Sunday Times best-seller memoir of the same name.
Former New Line exec Lynn Harris is producing with her Weimaraner Republic partner Matti Leshem (The Shallows). Bash Doran, whose credits include Netflix’s Outlaw King, Channel4 and Netflix series Traitors and Hulu’s The Looming Tower, is attached to adapt.
Louis Theroux’s audio book in US & Canada
Bolinda have acquired exclusive US and Canada audio rights in Louis Theroux’s GOTTA GET THEROUX THIS.
Narrated by Louis, the listener is taken on a very personal journey with the author, from his anxiety-prone childhood to his unexpectedly successful career - offering fresh insight into some of Louis’ most entertaining and controversial documentaries.
This acquisition comes at a very exciting time, alongside the announcement of Theroux’s new podcast, Grounded, where Louis is using lockdown to track down some of the people he's been longing to talk to. The paperback of Gotta Get Theroux This was at no6 in the Sunday Times paperback bestseller list at the time of announcement.
Ece Temelkuran -
new book
Helen Garnons-Williams and Jordan Mulligan at 4th Estate have acquired UK & Commonwealth rights in a new book by the highly acclaimed author and journalist, Ece Temelkuran: TOGETHER: 10 choices for a better now. 4th Estate will publish in hardback in March 2021. Rights have also already been sold in France, Germany, Italy and Spain.
TOGETHER is a passionate and inspiring defence of humankind in our turbulent age. A blend of memoir, polemic, political and historical analysis, it outlines ten choices we can make to build a new political narrative for ourselves: how we can choose how to be, and what we can do, to create a future that puts faith in humanity first.
Jackie Clune publication day
Jackie’s hilarious new novel is out now, I’M JUST A TEENAGE PUNCHBAG is a laugh-out-loud, sob-on-the bus journey through the so-called life of a middle-aged woman. If motherhood is a job - who says you can't resign?
‘A bloody marvellous read. Horribly familiar, funny, touching, sad, brutally honest ... I recommend you clutch this book to your stained T-shirt and never let it go.' JO BRAND
Lorraine Candy - new book announcement
Louise Haines at 4th Estate has bought UK and Commonwealth rights for Lorraine Candy’s first book, 1001 THINGS ONLY MOTHERS OF TEENAGE GIRLS KNOW: THE MANUAL. Her book will be part guide, part memoir and part love-letter to Lorraine’s two teenage daughters, and a candid, helpful and hilarious guide to the many unexpected challenges of mothering teenage girls. It will be published in Spring 2021.
Louise Haines said: ‘There has been hardly anything published to date about this trickiest stage of parenting. Lorraine is the most acutely observant, knowledgeable and funniest writer about teenage daughters and also about being a mum navigating the terrain of midlife at the same time.’
Dr Pragya Agarwal - new book aquisition
Sharmaine Lovegrove has acquired for Dialogue Books the world rights for Pragya Agarwal’s new book, which will be published in October 2020.
WISH WE KNEW WHAT TO SAY is a manual for parents to raise anti-racist children. The book will be a tool kit and guide for all parents from all backgrounds to talk openly and honestly about race from the ages of 2- 12 years old. The book gives scenarios, questions, thought starters, advice and resources in how to tackle tricky conversations with confidence and awareness.
Emma DeSouza
I am really happy to welcome Emma DeSouza to Robert Caskie Ltd. Emma is a citizens rights campaigner and public speaker who has been widely lauded as a leader in the next generation of peace makers in Northern Ireland. Having launched a successful grassroots campaign that garnered international praise Emma is now working on her first book on the power of rights movements.
Manda Scott
Great news that the film and tv rights to Manda’s Scott’s critically acclaimed prize winning novel A Treachery of Spies have been secured by Beaglepug films and Enriched Media Group. Beaglepug’s founder, David Barron, veteran producer of six Harry Potter films, has spoken about how excited he is to bring this award-winning and distinctively European story to a global market.
Margaret Reynolds
June deal announcement: Helena Gonda at Transworld Publishers has bought UK & Commonwealth rights in The Bright Field by Margaret Reynolds, professor of English at Queen Mary University London.
This is a book about what makes a mother, and a home; how the legacies of childhood may impact on the experience of parenting; and how the pervasive nature of childhood trauma might be faced by a mother’s determination to love.
The Bright Field by Margaret Reynolds will be published by Doubleday in hardback in Spring 2021.
Trevor McDonald
The paperback edition of Trevor McDonald’s engaging, intimate and moving book, An Improbable Life, was published in May.
Kevin Braddock
I’m delighted to welcome Kevin Braddock to Robert Caskie Ltd. Kevin is a writer-editor with over 25 years experience in journalism. He develops tools and narratives to assist people dealing with depression and anxiety.
Trish Halpin
I’m thrilled to welcome Trish Halpin to Robert Caskie Ltd. An award winning Editor in Chief, content strategist and coach, she also co-hosts the podcast Postcards from Midlife
Sway - Unravelling Unconscious Bias
Dr Pragya’s Agarwal’s important and thought-provoking book, SWAY - Unravelling Unconscious Bias was published in April by Bloomsbury. Described by various reviewers as “eye-opening”, “indispensable” and “searingly relevant”, it was Book of The Week in the Review Section of The Saturday Guardian.
Pragya Agarwal
Hannah Knowles at Canongate has acquired at auction UK & Commonwealth rights in two titles by Dr Pragya Agarwal - Free Will: A journey in motherhood and fertility and Hysterical: The Gendered Nature of Emotions.