category: Fiction

MRS S

An Observer best debut novel of 2023

‘The intense physicality of the novel’s emotions and its stylish, stripped-back prose make for an arresting pairing’ Hephzibah Anderson, Observer

‘Atmospheric and daring’ Guardian

‘There’s nothing else like it out there’ The Times

‘Bold and beautiful… Desire crackles through these pages like fire’  Telegraph

‘Embraces and then toys with our expectation of the lesbian romance… Spare and direct’ London Review of Books

 

MRS S is a love story told over a smoldering summer at an elite boarding school. While it’s a poignant portrayal of a particular queer experience – a romance between a young teacher and the headmaster’s wife – it’s also a universal tale of longing and what it is to see and be seen.

 

In an elite English boarding school where the girls kiss the marble statue of the famous dead author who used to walk the halls, a young Australian woman arrives to take up the antiquated role of ‘matron’. 

Within this landscape of immense privilege, in which the girls can sense the slightest weakness in those around them, she finds herself unsure of her role, her accent and her body.

That is until she meets Mrs S, the headmaster’s wife, a woman who is her polar opposite: assured, sophisticated, a paragon of femininity.

Over the course of a long, restless heatwave, the matron finds herself irresistibly drawn ever closer into Mrs S’s world and their unspoken desire blooms into an illicit affair of electric intensity. 

But, as the summer begins to fade, both women know that a choice must be made.

 

K Patrick is based in Glasgow. Their poetry has appeared in Poetry Review, Granta and Five Dials, and was shortlisted for The White Review Poet’s Prize in 2021, the same year that K was also shortlisted for The White Review’s Short Story Prize.

In 2020 they were runner-up in the Ivan Juritz Prize and the Laura Kinsella Fellowship.

Perilous Times

Sir Kay and his fellow knights awake from their mythical slumber whenever Britain has need of them; they fought at Agincourt and at the Somme. But in these perilous modern times, the realm is more divided than ever, a dragon has been seen for the first time in centuries, and Kay is not the only ancient and terrible thing to come crawling up out of the ground . . .

Perilous Times is a fiercely entertaining contemporary take on the myths of Camelot, which asks: what happens when the Knights of the Round Table return to fix the problems of the modern world?

Under Your Spell

UNDER YOUR SPELL was sold in a two-book deal to Simon & Schuster after a seven-way auction, and will be published as a lead romance debut in June 2024. DAISY JONES AND THE SIX meets PRACTICAL MAGIC with a touch of THE WITCHES OF EASTWICK, the novel balances romance and comedy sublimely, following Clemmie who, after drunkenly casting a spell with her sisters after a bad break-up, promptly lands a dream summer job as housekeeper for world-famous rockstar Theo Elliott.

Clemmie’s life is a mess: she’s lost her job, her flat, her boyfriend (who took everything and the cat).

She’s also the strait-laced daughter of an aging rock-god famed for fathering three daughters with three different women – and it’s Clemmie’s beloved sisters Lil and Serena who fly to the rescue now. Together, they revive a witchy ritual from their teenage years – the Break-Up Spell: three wishes for the one who is heartbroken, and a curse on whoever broke their heart.

Serena wishes for hot sex (because Serena is Serena)

Clemmie wishes for a job that she loves (because Clemmie overthought things, as per usual)

Lil wishes for big soulmate love (because Lil is soppy AF)

And we won’t dwell on the curse, but just know that it’s…itchy.

When Clemmie has the hottest sex of her life with a stranger (AT A FUNERAL), it looks like the spell is finally working its magic. And when she lands a summer job as housekeeper for enigmatic musician Theo Eliott, on retreat to write his next album, can big soulmate love be far behind?

But when the stranger from the funeral turns out to BE enigmatic musician Theo Eliott, everything changes. Because Clemmie has secrets of her own that not even six weeks alone with a world-famous heartthrob like Theo Eliott can dispel. As their summer together turns into its own kind of magic, is Clemmie cursed to repeat the mistakes of her past – or will her future see all her wishes come true?

UNDER YOUR SPELL is the adult romcom debut from YA romance queen Laura Wood. Published in seven languages, Laura’s dreamy love stories for teens include A SKY PAINTED GOLD, which was nominated for the YA Book Prize, two Books Are My Bag awards, and the RNA Romantic Novel Of The Year 2019, and AGENCY FOR SCANDAL which was published earlier this year. Laura lives in Warwickshire with her husband and their dog Bea; she has a PhD in Victorian Literature and her many likes include: recipe books, Jilly Cooper, poetry, cosy woollen jumpers, Edith Nesbit, crisp autumn leaves, Jack Gilbert, new stationery, sensation fiction, salted caramel, and Rufus Sewell’s cheek-bones. Laura is represented by Louise Lamont at Luigi Bonomi Associates.

Into The Night: A Year With the Police

INTO THE NIGHT: A YEAR WITH THE POLICE is Matt’s account of working for two years as a special police constable in Lambeth, and explores the dissonance that inevitably developed between Matt’s two lives: by day, he was a trusted teacher at a Brixton primary school; by night, he was anonymised by a uniform that drew deep suspicion. At its heart, INTO THE NIGHT is an exploration of what it would mean to reframe policing as a caring, rather than enforcement, role, and a luminous portrait of South London – the epicentre of Britain’s struggle against racist policing, surfacing hidden histories of resistance and abuse. It featured in The Guardian last week, and was published by Picador on 18th May.

A former carer, primary school teacher and education researcher, Matt Lloyd-Rose became a volunteer police officer to try to understand the challenges facing young people in Brixton, the place he lived and taught. He got more than he bargained for. Each Friday evening, he put on the uniform and policed South London: racing through it on blue lights, patrolling its streets, entering a parallel version of a place he thought he knew.

Into the Night takes the reader on a journey to the heart of our society’s most complex and controversial institution, showing the best and worst of ordinary policing: from macho thrill-seeking and shocking misogyny to quiet moments of kindness and care. Its pages are filled with the homeless, the lonely, the sick and the angry, with teenage gang members, confused drunks, violent partners, runaway dogs and an illegal hot-dog vendor who won’t take no for an answer.

The details of Matt’s portrait of police work is astonishing: from fights in bookies and takeaways to the story of a teenage girl who was taken from her own home and held overnight for breaching her parole conditions. On the one hand, there’s the constant background rumble of gang wars; on the other, the shocking misogyny and racism that proliferates amongst the police force itself. Matt’s writing process started with him surreptitiously taking notes while on his night shifts, which he’d write up the next morning in Phoenix – the Brixton café that became the portal between his policing and his teaching lives. Matt then layered in the research he’d conducted into the area’s Black British community, who are so often the victims of police brutality, along with his research into policing theory and criminology. Matt is represented by Patrick Walsh at PEW Literary Agency.

This Family

THIS FAMILY is a lyrical and poignant exploration of the complex bonds of family, set across a summer’s day as Mary’s relations gather for her wedding. The cracks soon begin to show and we are drawn deeper into the family’s world, accessing multiple perspectives, as the fascinating dynamics become ever more intricate. It is published by Hodder & Stoughton and has received brilliant reviews. THE STRANDING, Kate’s debut novel, is currently in development for Film/TV which she is adapting with Afua Hirsch.

Mary has raised a family in this house. Watched her children play and laugh and bicker in this house. Today she is getting married in this house, with all her family in attendance.

The wedding celebrations have brought fractured family together for the first time in years: there’s Phoebe and her husband Michael, children in tow. The young and sensitive Rosie, with her new partner. Irene, Mary’s ex-mother-in-law. Even Emma, Mary’s eldest, is back for the wedding – despite being at odds with everyone else.

Set over the course of an English summer’s day but punctuated with memories from the past forty years of love and loss, hope and joy, heartbreak and grief, this is the story of a family. Told by a chorus of characters, it is an exploration of the small moments that bring us to where we are, the changes that are brought about by time, and what, despite everything, stays the same.

Kate Sawyer was born in Bury St Edmunds, where she grew up the eldest of four siblings. She trained in acting at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art, Kate has worked as an actor since. Her debut novel, The Stranding, was shortlisted for the Costa First Novel award, won the East Anglian Fiction Prize and was adapted for Book at Bedtime on BBC Radio 4.

Kate is represented by Claire Wilson at RCW Literary Agency.

Nesting

The Film/TV Rights are currently under option.

NESTING is the story of one woman’s fight to escape a controlling relationship, overcome homelessness, and rebuild a life for herself and her children. It was snapped up by Scribner in the UK after a fiercely contested nine-way auction, and will be published as a superlead title in February 2025. North American rights were also pre-empted by Algonquin/Hachette US.

It is 2018 and Dublin rents are soaring, homelessness is rising and families are being forced into emergency accommodation. For Ciara Fay, home is no longer safe. Eight weeks pregnant with a third child, she knows she can’t stay in her marriage. Her family are in England but her daughters can’t leave Ireland without their father’s permission. This is not the first time Ciara has tried to escape. With no money and no job, emergency accommodation at the run-down Hotel Eden is the only option. But as summer passes and winter closes in, Ciara struggles with raising two children in a hotel room, searching for a home and dealing with an abusive ex. 

Roisín O’Donnell’s short story ‘Sleep Watchers’ was shortlisted for Short Story of the Year at the An Post Irish Book Awards this year. Her story, HOW TO BUILD A SPACE ROCKET, won the same prize in 2018. She is the author of the collection WILD QUIET, published by New Island Books in 2016, which was longlisted for the Edge Hill Short Story Prize 2017 and shortlisted for the Kate O’Brien Award 2017 as well as the International Rubery Book Award. NESTING is her first novel. She lives near Dublin with her two children. Roisín is represented by Eleanor Birne at PEW Literary Agency.

Arrangements in Blue

The Film/TV Rights are currently under option.

In her debut non-fiction, Key uses Joni Mitchell’s seminal album BLUE as her guide in navigating experiences of loneliness, desire, disappointment and romantic love. It was snapped up Jonathan Cape in the UK after a 7-way auction, and was published 6th April 2023. US Rights were secured by Liveright, and was published on 9th May.

When poet Amy Key was growing up, she looked forward to a life shaped by romance, fuelled by desire, longing and the conventional markers of success that come when you share a life with another person. But that didn’t happen for her. Now in her forties, she sets out to explore the realities of a life lived in the absence of romantic love.

Using Joni Mitchell’s seminal album Blue – which shaped Key’s expectations of love – as an anchor, Arrangements in Blue elegantly honours a life lived completely by, and for, oneself. Building a home, travelling alone, choosing whether to be a mother, recognising her own milestones, learning the limits of self-care and the expansive potential of self-friendship, Key uncovers the many forms of connection and care that often go unnoticed.

With profound candour and intimacy, Arrangements in Blue explores the painful feelings we are usually too ashamed to discuss: loneliness, envy, grief and failure. The result is a book which inspires us to live and love more honestly.

Key is a poet and writer based in London. She is the author of two collections of poetry, Luxe (Salt, 2013) and Isn’t Forever (Bloodaxe, 2018), which was a book of the year in the Guardian, New Statesman, Times and Irish Times. Her poems have been widely published and anthologised, and her essays have appeared in At the Pond (Daunt Books, 2019), Granta, Poetry Review and elsewhere. Her essay about Mitchell, “A Breed of Blue”, was published by Granta last December. Amy is represented by Angelique Tran Van Sang at Felicity Bryan Associates.

Love On The Menu

LOVE ON THE MENU is a beautifully written and compelling novel that follows Gia as she strives to build a life in London far from her home in India, when a chance note inside a guilt-ridden takeaway leads her down an unexpected path. It won the Avon-Mushens Commercial Fiction Prize in 2021 and was published by Harper Collins in UK and US in April 2023. 

Gia thrives on taking risks. After having her heart broken back home in India, she moved to London alone to chase her dreams.

Ben always plays things safe. He works the same job in the same restaurant, night after night.

But tonight, is going to be different. Because fate will mean one of Ben’s deliveries goes to Gia’s apartment and in return a note from her will make its way back to him at the restaurant. Ben and Gia have never met. But with each new delivery, Ben slips in a note of his own and waits patiently for her reply.

One by one, these notes transform their lives in unexpected ways and an unlikely and truly unique love story begins.

Born in Calcutta, Mimi Deb worked as a journalist for leading national dailies and magazines, before producing TV dramas and, later, feature films. When not writing, Mimi is probably running along the Thames thinking of her next story, or next meal. Mimi is represented by Rachel Neely at Mushens Entertainment.

The Institution

Dr Connie Woolwine has five days to catch a killer.

On a locked ward in the world’s highest-security prison hospital for the criminally insane, a nurse has been murdered and her newborn baby kidnapped. A ransom must be paid, and the clock is ticking.

Forensic profiler Dr Connie Woolwine is renowned for her ability to get inside the mind of a murderer. Now she must go deep undercover among the most deranged and dangerous men on earth, and use her unique skills to find the baby – before it’s too late.

She has five days to catch the killer. But with the walls of The Institution closing in on her, will her sanity last that long?

An Amazon #1 best-selling author, Helen Fields is a former criminal and family law barrister. The last book in her Scottish set crime series, PERFECT KILL, was longlisted for the Crime Writers’ Association Ian Fleming Steel Dagger in 2020, and others have been longlisted for the McIlvanney Prize, Scottish crime novel of the year. Helen also writes as HS Chandler, and wrote legal thriller Degrees of Guilt.  In 2020, Perfect Remains was shortlisted for the Bronze Bat, Dutch debut crime novel of the year. Now translated into 20 languages, and also selling in the USA, Canada & Australasia, Helen’s books have won global recognition. Her historical thriller THESE LOST & BROKEN THINGS came out in May 2020. Her first standalone thriller – THE SHADOW MAN – was published in 2021. She is represented by Caroline Hardman at Hardman & Swainson.

Purgatory Poisoning

Winner of the ‘Comedy Women in Print Prize’, this hilarious crime novel brings a grounded fantasy element to the cosy crime genre, with shades of GHOSTS and THE GOOD PLACE.

 

How do you solve your own murder when you’re already dead?

Purgatory (noun):
1. Where the dead are sent to atone.
2. A place of suffering or torment.
3. A youth hostel where the occupants play Scrabble and the mattresses are paper thin.

When Dave wakes up in his own personal purgatory (St Ives Youth Hostel circa 1992), he’s shocked to discover he’s dead. And worse – he was murdered.

Heaven doesn’t know who did it, so, with the help of two rogue angels, Dave must uncover the truth.

As divine forces from both sides start to play the game, can Dave get out of this alive? Or at the very least, with his soul intact?

Rebecca Rogers grew up in Birmingham, UK on a diet of Blackadder and Monty Python. For a long time, she thought Michael Palin was her uncle (he’s not). Now a civil servant by day and writer by night, she’s a proud mum to two grown up boys and lives in the glorious south west of England.

The Purgatory Poisoning is her first novel and won the Comedy Women in Print Unpublished Prize 2021.