Status: Books on Submission

Fearless

*This book is currently under option*

FEARLESS is a fast-paced thriller featuring lone-wolf protagonist Ben Koenig, who, six years after disappearing off the face of the earth, is hunted down and recruited for a dangerous mission – he’s the only man for the job, as he is incapable of experiencing fear…. There is also a fascinating central female character, US Marshal Jen Draper – smart, ruthless, with a passionate dislike for Ben – but is she working with him or against him?

The new series was signed by Constable in a six-figure deal in the UK and by Flatiron in the US, along with the continuation of the Sunday Times bestselling and Dagger winning Washington Poe series, which was previously in development for TV and has been the recipient of numerous awards and accolades (listed below). You can read the Bookseller announcement here.

Six years back Ben Koenig headed up the US Marshal’s Special Operations Group. They were the unit who hunted the bad guys. The really bad guys. They did this so no one else had to.

And then one day Ben sold his house, liquidated his assets and disappeared off the face of the earth. He told no one why and left no forwarding address. For six years he became a grey man. Someone you didn’t remember. He drifted from town to town, from state to state, never visiting the same place twice. He was untraceable – officially, he no longer existed.

But now his face is plastered across every television screen in the country. Someone from Ben’s past is going to extraordinary lengths to find him and they don’t care how they do it. They have a job for him, a revenge mission, one Ben won’t be able to refuse. Because in the hellish heat of the Chihuahuan desert lies a town called Gauntlet. Some people in Gauntlet have a secret and they’ll do anything protect it. And they know Ben is coming. They’ve killed before and they’ll kill again.

It’s easy to dismiss Ben Koenig as just another drifter, someone you don’t need to concern yourself about. But that would be a mistake. Because Ben has a condition, a unique disorder that means he is incapable of experiencing fear. And that makes Ben Koenig a different kind of animal . . .

Multi-award-winning author M. W. Craven was born in Carlisle but grew up in Newcastle. He joined the army at sixteen, leaving ten years later to complete a social work degree. Seventeen years after taking up a probation officer role in Cumbria, at the rank of assistant chief officer, he became a full-time author. THE PUPPET SHOW, the first book in his Cumbria-set Washington Poe series, was published by Little, Brown in 2018 and went on to win the Crime Writers’ Association Gold Dagger in 2019. It has now been translated into twenty-five languages. BLACK SUMMER, the second in the series, was longlisted for the 2020 Gold Dagger as was book three, THE CURATOR in 2021. The fourth in the series, DEAD GROUND, was published in 2021, became an instant Sunday Times bestseller and has been longlisted for the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger and the Theakston Old Peculiar Novel of the Year 2022.

Craven is represented by David H Headley at D H H Literary Agency, and FEARLESS will be published by Constable in the UK and Flatiron in the US in Summer 2023.

Unraveller

UNRAVELLER is another stunningly imaginative new world in which anyone can create a life-destroying curse – but only one person has the power to unravel them. World Rights were acquired by Macmillan Children’s in the UK, and in the US by Abrams – you can read the Bookseller announcement here.  Four of Frances’ novels are currently or have been in development for Film/TV – including DEEPLIGHT (Euston), A SKIN FULL OF SHADOWS (Calamity), THE LIE TREE, and CUCKOO SONG.

In a world where anyone can create a life-destroying curse, only one person has the power to unravel them. Kellen does not fully understand his talent, but helps those transformed maliciously—including Nettle. Recovered from entrapment in bird form, she is now his constant companion and closest ally.

But Kellen has also been cursed, and unless he and Nettle can remove his curse, Kellen is in danger of unravelling everything—and everyone—around him . . ..

Frances’ debut novel, FLY BY NIGHT, was published in 2005 to global critical acclaim. It won the Branford Boase Award in 2006 and was shortlisted for the Guardian Fiction Award in the same year. The sequel, TWILIGHT ROBBERY, was shortlisted for the Guardian Fiction Award in 2012. Frances’ next three novels, VERDIGRIS DEEP, GULLSTRUCK ISLAND and A FACE LIKE GLASS (shortlisted for the Kitschies in 2013) have all garnered stellar reviews. CUCKOO SONG, published in 2014, won the Robert Holdstock Award, was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal. Her seventh novel, THE LIE TREE, also optioned for film/TV, was short-listed for The Guardian Fiction Award and the Carnegie Medal and went on to win the 2015 Costa Book of the Year Award, only the second time in the Award’s history that a children’s author has scooped the prize. DEEPLIGHT, published in October 2019, showcases once again Frances’ extraordinary imagination, originality and talent for world building and storytelling.

Frances is represented by Nancy Miles at Miles Stott Agency, and UNRAVELLER will be published by Macmillan in the UK on 01/09/2022, and by Amulet in the US on 10/01/2023.

Tick Tock

Simon Mayo’s chilling new thriller, TICK TOCK, sees a mysterious tinnitus-like illness take root and start spreading like wildfire. Exciting and urgently contemporary, the piercingly insightful novel tells the story of a global catastrophe through the eyes of three people at the heart of the storm. Simon’s book series, ITCH, has been developed in to a returning series, now 2 series in, for ABC and the BBC. MAD BLOOD STIRRING is being developed as feature by Jack Thorne for House Productions. And KNIFE EDGE is in development with Kommix.

It starts quietly enough. A tick-tick-ticking you can hear in your ear. Tinnitus, you think. It will pass. But it doesn’t. It gets worse – and then you pass it on.

Before you know it, it spreads. Elsewhere across the globe, it emerges: small outbreaks at first, but then suddenly it’s a plague – and only days later it is already killing people.

In an increasingly affected north London school, teacher Kit Chaplin is struggling to understand what he is witnessing. Even Lilly Slater, his partner and an eminent vaccinologist, can’t work out what’s happening. As it spreads, little by little, they are inexorably drawn into the mystery behind the illness. And what they discover will change the world as they know it…

Simon Mayo is one of Britain’s best-loved and well-known radio presenters who worked for BBC Radio 1 from 1982 until 2022. His first novel, ITCH, was featured in The Sunday Time’s UK top 10 and was the debut children’s hardback of the year. His latest novel, KNIFE EDGE, was published in 2020. Simon is represented by Sam Copeland at RCW Literary Agency, and TICK TOCK will be published by Transworld in August 2022.

Birdgirl

BIRDGIRL is a mindful, reflective and uplifting account of a life devoted to avian observation, and an activist’s journey towards environmental and racial justice. But more than that – it is a deeply moving story about family and mental health, and how her passion has enabled her to cope with challenging life situations and unexpected trauma. It was snapped up by Jonathan Cape in a 14-way publisher auction, with the rights sold in a string of other territories including a significant US deal.

Meet Mya-Rose – otherwise known as ‘Birdgirl’. Birder, environmentalist, diversity activist. To date she has seen over five thousand different types of bird: half the world’s species.

Every single bird a treasure. Each sighting a small step in her family journey – a collective moment of joy and stillness amidst her mother’s deepening mental health crisis. And each helping her to find her voice. Since she was young, she has visited every continent to pursue her passion, seeing first-hand the inequality and reckless destruction we are inflicting on our fragile planet. And the simple, mindful act of looking for birds has made her ever-more determined to campaign for all our survival.

This is her story; a journey defined by her love for these extraordinary creatures. Because large or small, brown, patterned or jewelled, there is something about birds that makes us, even for just moments at a time, lift our eyes away from our lives and up to the skies.

Mya-Rose Craig is a British-Bangladeshi ornithologist and campaigner for equal rights. In February 2020, she received an honorary doctorate in science  (DSc hc) from the University of Bristol – awarded for her creation of the non-profit organisation Black2Nature, which runs nature camps for black and minority ethnic children – and is said to be the youngest British person to receive such an award. She is now studying Human, Social and Political Science at the University of Cambridge. Mya-Rose is represented by Claire Paterson Conrad at Janklow and Nesbit, and BIRDGIRL was be published by Cape on 30th June 2022.

Blood To Poison

Blazingly original and steeped in darkly fantastical imagery, BLOOD TO POISON spins a mesmerising saga of preordained demise, South African witchcraft and apocalyptic rage through the suspenseful story of seventeen-year-old Savannah. It was published in April and has been met with fantastic praise.

Seventeen-year-old Savannah is cursed. It’s a sinister family heirloom; passed down through the bloodline for hundreds of years, with one woman in every generation destined to die young. The family call them Hella’s girls, named for their ancestor Hella; the enslaved woman with whom it all began. Hella’s girls are always angry, especially in the months before they die.

The anger is bursting from Savannah – at the men who cat-call her in the street, at her mother’s disingenuous fiancé, even at her own loving family. Each fit of rage is bringing her closer to the edge and now Savannah has to act to save herself. Or die trying. Because the key to survival lies in the underbelly of Cape Town, where the sinister veilwitches are waiting for just such a girl.

Watson grew up in Cape Town during the apartheid years and did a Master’s in creative writing with André Brink. She won the Caine Prize for African Writing in 2006 and appeared on the Hay Festival’s Africa39 list of influential writers. Blood to Poison is her third novel for young adults and the first rooted in her South African heritage.

Watson is represented for books by Claire Wilson at RCW Literary Agency, and BLOOD TO POISON was published by Bloomsbury on 14th April 2022.

The Way Back To You

THE WAY BACK TO YOU is a funny and heart-warming story of long-lost love and second chances – following a sixty-year-old widow as he cycles across France to reconnect with his childhood sweetheart. It is a charming, moving, and uplifting summer romance. James Bailey’s debut novel THE FLIP SIDE was published in 2020 is currently in development with Silverprint Pictures.

When Simon Brown reconnects on Facebook with his first love Sylvie – the French pen pal he never actually met – he is determined that this time things will be different. However, life isn’t so straight-forward at sixty as it was at sixteen. His daughter’s getting married, he’s got difficult guests staying at his B&B, and his larger-than-life school friend, Ian, has abruptly waltzed back into his life.

Adamant that he can’t let this second chance pass by, Simon sets off on a bike ride from Bristol to Bordeaux with Ian in tow, on the very same route they covered as teenagers in pursuit of love. But although they now have better bikes, more acceptable haircuts, and Google Maps, some things never change, and it soon becomes clear that this trip will have even more bumps in the road than the first.

James Bailey was born in Bristol, and currently lives and works in his home city. A graduate of King’s College London, James has previously carried the Olympic Torch, made a speech at the House of Commons, and worked as a red-carpet reporter. James’ debut novel THE FLIP SIDE was released in 2020 and is being translated into eleven languages.

James is represented for books by Hannah Ferguson at Hardman and Swainson, and THE WAY BACK TO YOU was published on 9th June 2022 by Penguin.

Truly, Darkly Deeply

*This title is currently under option.*

Truly, Darkly, Deeply is a captivating, terrifying, and addictive serial killer thriller, which was pre-empted by Quercus in six-figure deal. It flips the genre, with intriguing and complex central characters.

Twelve-year-old Sophie and her mother, Amelia-Rose, move to London from Massachusetts where they meet the charismatic Matty Melgren, who quickly becomes an intrinsic part of their lives. But as the relationship between the two adults fractures, a serial killer begins targeting young women with a striking resemblance to Amelia-Rose.

When Matty is eventually sent down for multiple murder, questions remain as to his guilt – questions which ultimately destroy both women. Nearly twenty years later, Sophie receives a letter from Battlemouth Prison informing her Matty is dying and wants to meet. It looks like Sophie might finally get the answers she craves. But will the truth set her free – or bury her deeper?

Victoria Selman is the author of the critically acclaimed Ziba MacKenzie series, and her debut novel Blood for Blood was shortlisted for the prestigious CWA Debut Dagger Award and an Amazon Charts #1 bestseller for five weeks. Victoria also co-hosts a true crime podcast and writes freelance opinion pieces on true crime for the Independent.

Truly Darkly Deeply was published in July 2022 by Quercus Books. Victoria is represented for publishing by David H Headely at DHH Literary Agency.

*Currently under option*

Bad Fruit

BAD FRUIT is an unforgettable portrayal of a toxic mother-daughter relationship, and a young woman’s search for truth and liberation. It was snapped up by HarperFiction in a five-way auction – you can read more about it in the Bookseller here.  It will appeal to fans of MY DARK VANESSA and Celeste Ng.

Just graduated from high school and waiting to start college at Oxford, Lily lives under the scrutiny of her volatile Singaporean mother, May, and is unable to find kinship with her elusive British father, Charlie. When May suspects that Charlie is having an affair, there’s only one thing that calms May down: a glass of perfectly spoiled orange juice served by Lily, who must always taste it first to make sure it’s just right.

As her mother becomes increasingly unhinged, Lily starts to have flashbacks that she knows aren’t her own. Over a sweltering London summer, all semblance of civility and propriety is lost, as Lily begins to unravel the harrowing history that has always cast a shadow on her mother. The horrifying secrets she uncovers will shake her family to its core, culminating in a shattering revelation that will finally set Lily free.

Beautiful and shocking, BAD FRUIT is as compulsive as it is thought-provoking, as nuanced as it is explosive. A masterful exploration of mothers and daughters, inherited trauma and the race to break its devastating cycle, BAD FRUIT will leave readers breathlessly questioning their own notions of femininity, race and redemption.

King was born to first-generation Singaporean parents and grew up in London. A graduate of Faber Academy’s “Writing A Novel” course, she came third in the Aurora Prize for Short Fiction 2019 and won the Blue Pencil Agency Pitch Prize 2019. Currently she works as a corporate lawyer in London and volunteers at anti-human trafficking and domestic violence charities. She is represented by Hellie Ogden at Janklow and Nesbitt, and BAD FRUIT will be published by HarperFiction on 18th August 2022. Penguin Randomhouse will publish in the US on August 23rd 2022.

Praise for BAD FRUIT 

“Ella King opens up the fraught space between mother and daughter to reveal both the unbearable weight of inherited traumas as well as the uncontainable desire of a heart reaching for life. Bad Fruit cuts away the skin of a family as if a daughter could be a knife slicing through lies, pain, and fear. The heart hidden beneath all the secrets is sweet. The heart hidden beneath the secrets is hers. Breathtaking.” – Lidia Yuknavitch, author of Thrust and The Chronology of Water

“Beautiful, disturbing, impossible to put down. Bad Fruit heralds a seriously impressive new talent in Ella King.” – Chris Whitaker, bestselling author of We Begin At The End

“A compelling debut that fizzes with tension from start to finish, blending the subtle erudition of literary fiction with the drama and suspense of the very best thrillers. Masterful in its evocation of the complexity of mother-daughter relationships, this is a darkly fascinating, tightly plotted narrative from a writer to watch.” —Harper’s Bazaar (UK)

“Bad Fruit is at once a beautiful and harrowing novel which explores family dynamics, and tracks a journey of self-discovery. I am blown away by Ella’s talent for writing not only wonderful prose but complex and intriguing characters.” — L.V. Matthews, author of The Prank

“Bad Fruit is a beautiful collision of mothers and daughters, human darkness and human kindness, truth and lies, remembering and forgetting, trauma and healing.” —Sarah May, author of Becky