Translation Rights Guide
SPRING HIGHLIGHTS 2021
MICHAEL JOSEPH TRANSWORLD VINTAGE
PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE UK RIGHTS DEPARTMENT Michael Joseph | Transworld | Vintage
Chantal Noel, Group Rights Director Email: [email protected]
Sarah Scarlett, Adult Rights Director USA & Canada | Ebury & Transworld Email: [email protected]
Jane Kirby, Rights Director USA & Canada | Michael Joseph & Vintage Email: [email protected]
Lucy Beresford-Knox, Head of Translation Germany, France & Netherlands Email: [email protected]
Josh Crosley, Senior Rights Manager Spain, Portugal, Brazil & Italy Email: [email protected]
Rachael Sharples, Rights Manager Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan, Poland, Russia, Greece & Turkey Email: [email protected]
Inês Cortesão, Senior Rights Executive Romania, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia & Croatia Email: [email protected]
Maddie Stephenson, Rights Executive Ukraine, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Bulgaria, Serbia, Macedonia, Albania, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Mongolia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Montenegro, Kosovo, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Indian languages, Arab World & Israel Email: [email protected]
Agnes Watters, Rights Assistant Email: [email protected] Lucie Deacon, Rights Assistant Email: [email protected] CONTENTS
MICHAEL JOSEPH
TRANSWORLD
VINTAGE
Please click on each division to go directly to that section.
Cover illustration © Alicia Fernandes
Michael Joseph specialises in women’s fiction, crime, thrillers, cookery, memoirs and lifestyle books. Many of its authors are now, or soon will be, household names in the UK and around the world.
GENERAL FICTION
Michael Joseph specialises in women’s fiction, publishing established brands like Marian Keyes, Jojo Moyes, Liane Moriarty, Conn Iggulden and Fredrik Backman as well as signing and launching debut novelists. Other authors include Dawn French, Sylvia Day, Giovanna Fletcher, Stephen Fry and Lesley Pearse.
CRIME FICTION
Michael Joseph publishes crime fiction by authors at home on the bestseller lists, whether they’re up-and- coming or established in the genre, including M.J. Arlidge, Tim Weaver, Tom Clancy and Clive Cussler.
NON-FICTION MEMOIR
Either the secrets behind the success of the already famous, or a story that no-one has heard before, the authors writing memoirs include Sue Perkins, Tom Jones, Stephen Fry, Jeremy Clarkson, Michael McIntyre, and Steven Gerrard.
COOKERY
Whether it is the country’s bestselling cookery writer – Jamie Oliver – or a debut from the brightest and freshest young chefs, Michael Joseph’s list covers everything from gourmet baking to healthy eating, to catering for events or how to eat well on a budget. As well as Jamie Oliver, authors include Rachel Khoo, Nadiya Hussain and Chrissy Teigen.
NON-FICTION LIFESTYLE
Health and wellbeing is a core specialist area for Michael Joseph, and from exercise and style advice to mindfulness and well-being, its range of publishing is extensive. Key authors include Lucy Mecklenburg, Chloe Brotheridge and Tanya Burr.
‘A commercial publishing house with heft.’ We are first and foremost lovers of great stories. It is this collective passion that drives all our publishing – fiction and non-fiction. We publish fewer books annually than any other division within Penguin Random House, but have a greater number of titles on the bestsellers lists - year in, year out - than anyone else, with 566 titles in the Sunday Times top ten charts in the last 10 years, 134 of them reaching No.1.
Doubleday Where the greatest stories begin. Our literary and ideas-led imprint, Doubleday is home to prize-winners Kate Atkinson, Bill Bryson, Hallie Rubenhold (Baillie Gifford), Sue Black (Saltire), Sarah Jane-Blakemore (Royal Society Science Prize), John Boyne, Paula Hawkins, Anna Hope, Rachel Joyce, Terry Pratchett, Donal Ryan, Diane Setterfield, Curtis Sittenfeld, and Markus Zusak.
Bantam Press Transworld’s commercial hardback list Bantam Press publishes many of the biggest brand-names in fiction - including Belinda Bauer, Dan Brown, Lee Child, Jilly Cooper, Ben Elton, Frederick Forsyth, Ruth Jones, Sophie Kinsella, Shari Lapena, Andy McNab and Simon Mayo - and ‘expert voices for a mainstream audience’ in non-fiction - including Jason Fox, Bear Grylls, Stephen Hawking, James Holland, Alan Johnson, Robert Iger and Paul McKenna.
Corgi The paperback imprint for Bantam Press titles.
Black Swan The paperback imprint for Doubleday titles.
World class writing. Beautiful design. Ideas that matter.
We publish some of the world’s most thought-provoking, unforgettable, beautifully designed books – from contemporary trail blazers to our red-spine Vintage Classics. We’re not just publishers – we’re passionate book lovers, dedicated to creating beautiful books for people who love to read.
The Bodley Head
Founded in 1887, the Bodley Head publishes influential, compelling non-fiction that explores the ideas, the people, the human obsessions that shape our world. Its authors are united by their originality, by their expertise and by their gifts as communicators.
Jonathan Cape
Jonathan Cape has been the home of some of the finest writing in the world for nearly a century. With more Booker Prize wins and shortlistings than any other publisher, Cape is renowned for its prizewinning fiction, non-fiction, poetry and graphic novels.
Chatto & Windus
Chatto & Windus can trace its origins back to 1855, continuing a long tradition of publishing outstanding literary fiction and contemporary international writers as well as the best literary biography, memoir, history, cultural commentary and poetry.
Harvill Secker
Founded in 1910, Harvill Secker is the dynamic, international imprint at Vintage, with books ranging from prizewinning literary fiction and non-fiction to bestselling crime and thrillers.
Hogarth
In 1917 Virginia and Leonard Woolf started The Hogarth Press from their Richmond home – Hogarth House – armed only with a hand press and a determination to publish the newest, most inspiring writing. Hogarth continues to be a home for a fresh generation of literary talent: an adventurous fiction imprint with an accent on the pleasures of storytelling and a broad awareness of the world.
Square Peg
Square Peg publishes 10 to 12 standout, contemporary non-fiction books each year. Across a range of genres including trend-led narrative, humour and entertaining reference.
Yellow Jersey
Launched in 1998, Yellow Jersey Press has become synonymous with quality sports writing, covering all sports from the perspective of player, professional observer and passionate fan. Sport is about more than simple entertainment; it represents a determination to challenge and compete. It binds individuals with a common goal, and often reflects our experiences in the wider world. Yellow Jersey understands this as much as its readers.
Vintage Classics
Vintage Classics is home to writers from across the centuries and around the world. With striking red spines and stylish design, world-renowned writing and lost classics alike are championed by leading cultural figures, making Vintage Classics a list that’s open to the world.
Vintage Paperbacks
Vintage Paperbacks does things differently. It takes the literary gifts handed to it by its hardback colleagues and reimagines them – from cover and copy to the marketing and publicity campaign – for a paperback market. This makes it unique in UK publishing.
MICHAEL JOSEPH
MICHAEL JOSEPH COMMERCIAL FICTION
BABY IT’S COLD OUTSIDE Emily Bell
Ten years ago Norah and Andrew promised to meet on Christmas Eve if they're still single. Now the time has come, but will Andrew be waiting there for her?
After another year of heartbreak, Norah's excited about Christmas until her mother says she's going out of town. To make up for it, she gifts Norah her air miles. But Norah doesn't want to spend Christmas alone.
Then she remembers Andrew, who she fell for ten years earlier.
Fate pulled them apart, but not before they made a promise: If they're both single on Christmas Eve 2019, they'll meet under the clock on Grafton Street, Dublin.
So Norah decides to go to Dublin. And, hopefully, to Andrew.
But will he be there? Or will she be lonely (again) this Christmas?
Emily Bell grew up in Dublin and moved to London after university. She has had various jobs including tour guide, bookseller and pub singer, and now writes full time. She lives in north London with her husband and daughter.
14 October 2021 | Rebecca Hilsdon for Michael Joseph | 400 pp
MICHAEL JOSEPH CRIME & THRILLER
THE INSIDER Matthew Richardson
A thrilling new novel of espionage from one of the most exciting new names in British spy fiction.
When retired spy Solomon Vine is sent off-books to investigate the murder of a Russian media tycoon and double agent, he soon discovers an explosive secret.
A mole has infiltrated the highest levels of British security. They will stop at nothing to keep their identity hidden.
And the only four suspects are the most important and powerful figures in Whitehall.
Working in total secrecy at the heart of Westminster, Solomon Vine must unravel the mystery – or the fate of Britain itself hangs in the balance…
Combining the enthralling atmospheric writing of writers like Mick Herron and Jason Matthews, with the heart-stopping suspense of James Swallow’s Nomad, The Insider is a thrilling novel combining major writing talent with an insider's knowledge of the corridors of power.
Matthew Richardson studied English at Durham University and Merton College, Oxford. After a brief spell as a freelance journalist, he began working as a researcher and speechwriter in Westminster, and has also written speeches for senior figures in the private sector. His first book, My Name is Nobody was published in 2017.
25 November 2021 | Rowland White for Michael Joseph | 320pp
Rights sold: Czech (Euromedia)
MICHAEL JOSEPH COMMERCIAL FICTION
THE GREAT STORK DERBY Caroline Lea
When Charles Millar dies childless in 1926, he bequeaths his fortune to the woman able to bear the most children over the next ten years. What follows is one of the most controversial contests in history, the Great Stork Derby.
Lily di Marco is young, pregnant and married to a man prone to violence. When her husband dies in a suspicious accident in a small town on the Canadian border, she flees to the safety of Toronto. Lily and her young son disappear into a faceless crowd.
Then she crosses paths with Mae Thebault, a glamorous young woman who has escaped a past of poverty and abuse herself. Mae promises to take Lily in, offering her friendship and a home. They quickly grow close. But is there more to Mae than meets the eye?
As Lily settles into her new life, the great depression hits and an entire country is plunged into poverty. Mae is forced to let Lily go. Both women struggle to feed their families and find work. Soon rumours swirl of a great fortune to be won. Mae and Lily are quickly pitted against one another, as with the birth of each new child both women move closer to winning the competition.
Ten years to have as many children as possible, and time is running out. To what lengthswill Lily go to protect her growing family? And what choice will Mae make, when the only way to escape ruin is to destroy the woman she secretly loves?
Watch the author and editor in conversation here.
Caroline Lea grew up on the island of Jersey and gained a First from Warwick University. Her fiction and poetry have been shortlisted for the Bridport Prize. Her debut novel, The Glass Woman, a gothic thriller set during the Icelandic witch trials, was shortlisted for the HWA Debut Crown Award.
17 March 2022 | Jillian Taylor for Michael Joseph | 400 pp
MICHAEL JOSEPH COMMERCIAL FICTION
THE CONFESSION Hilary Boyd
She thought she found the man of her dreams. Then came the confession…
Sara Tempest has been alone since her husband died and daughters left home. So when she meets the charming Bernard she believes the years of heartache and loneliness are finally behind her.
She quickly moves into his beautiful home on the wind battered cliffs of Hastings. But, after a while, she begins to wonder if Bernard is all he seems.
He's barely in touch with his children and with stifling reminders of his wife everywhere Sara looks, the walls begin to close in.
Then comes Bernard's confession and Sara's newfound happiness starts to crumble around her…
Hilary Boyd was a nurse, marriage counsellor and ran a small cancer charity before becoming an author. She has written eight books, including Thursdays in the Park, her debut novel which sold over half a million copies and was an international bestseller, with film rights acquiredby Charles Dance, who will be directing and starring.
14 April 2022 | Rebecca Hilsdon for Michael Joseph | 400 pp
MICHAEL JOSEPH IDEAS
THE UNCERTAINTY PRINCIPLE Arie Kruglanski
The need for closure has shaped history and can even determine your future. In this timely book, Arie Kruglanski, the world’s leading expert on the psychology of uncertainty, explains how understanding this is key to transforming our lives.
How much do we rely upon certainty? How does the way we deal with uncertainty impact our future and our lives?
Uncertainty is one of the defining issues of our time. Certainty has a habit of slipping away, further into our futures and we now have to deal with the uncertainties of our present, every day. The stability we once had is disappearing, and fast. Vast changes in society are shifting our realities: the unfolding climate crisis, an earth-shaking global pandemic, changing attitudes and approaches to employment, and an increase in freelance and temporary work all undermine people's ability to plan for the future. While at the same time there is ever decreasing trust in what was once hallowed: the government, the media, education, religion, medicine. Instead, we use the internet which provides us with a wave of conflicting advice.
When we can no longer make sense of the world together, insecurity takes over. Wedevelop anxiety and confusion about our purpose, and in searching for certainty, find it in autocratic leaders and populism. Democracy begins to fade as our uncertainty grows.
In this groundbreaking book, Arie Kruglanski teaches how if we are more aware of our need for certainty, and understand why we behave instinctively in the way that we do, we can better understand how to deal with stress and pressure. And how with training all of us can develop a higher tolerance for uncertainty. We can start to make decisions that aren't informed by anxiety, calm our constant need for closure, and embrace a less inhibited future.
Watch the author pitch this title here.
Arie Kruglanski is an award-winning Professor at the University of Maryland, College Park, recognised as a worldwide leading expert and authority on human motivation, human judgement and decision making. His work has been published in over 400 articles, chapters and books and his work has appeared in major psychological journals as well as in The Guardian, Huffington Post, National Interest, Conversation and The Washington Post.
April 2022 | Daniel Bunyard for Michael Joseph | 320 pp
MICHAEL JOSEPH HISTORY
SHACKLETON Ranulph Fiennes
The enthralling new biography of Ernest Shackleton by the world's greatest living explorer, Sir Ranulph Fiennes.
In 1915, Sir Ernest Shackleton's attempt to traverse the Antarctic was cut short when his ship, Endurance, became trapped in ice. The disaster left Shackleton and his men alone at the frozen South Pole, fighting for their lives.
Their survival and escape is the most famous adventure in history.
Shackleton is an engaging new account of the adventurer, his life and his incredible leadership under the most extreme of circumstances. Written by polar adventurer Sir Ranulph Fiennes who followed in Shackleton's footsteps, he brings his own unique insights to bear on these infamous expeditions. Shackleton is both re-appraisal and a valediction, separating the man from the myth he has become.
Ranulph Fiennes is the only man alive ever to have travelled around the Earth's circumpolar surface (more people have been on the Moon!). His record-breaking expeditions include travel by riverboat, hovercraft, man-haul sledge, skidoo, Land Rover and skis. He is also the bestselling author of titles such as Mad Dogs and Englishmen, Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know, and the biography Captain Scott.
16 September 2021 | Rowland White for Michael Joseph | 448 pp
MICHAEL JOSEPH SCIENCE & MEDICAL MEMOIR
THE SEVEN AGES OF DEATH: A FORENSIC JOURNEY THROUGH LIFE Dr Richard Shepherd
Forensic pathologist and bestselling author of Unnatural Causes, Dr Richard Shepherd, brings his unparalleled honesty and insight to a new book about life and death.
This book is about death, but in it I will take readers on a journey through life...
How can death tell us about life? Conducting many thousands of post-mortems has given Dr Richard Shepherd the opportunity to examine bodies of every age. From old to young, and from murder, to accident, to natural illness, each body has taught him something: about human development, about life's risks, about its owner's life story, about homicide and even about himself.
In The Seven Ages of Death, Shepherd helps readers to recognise death as part of an immense, natural life cycle which is common to all living things - an ending as much a part of us as our beginning.
Richard Shepherd trained as a doctor at St George's Hospital medical school at Hyde Park Corner, qualifying in 1977 and then completed his postgraduate training as a forensic pathologist in 1987. He immediately joined what was then the elite forensic department at Guy's Hospital. He has been involved nationally and internationally in the forensic investigation of thousands of deaths from unnatural causes, from headline-making murders to mass natural disasters, and many sudden and unexplained deaths that his investigations showed were from natural causes or due to accidents. His skills and expertise still remain in demand around the world. His first book, Unnatural Causes, has sold in 19 languages.
02 September 2021 | Rowland White for Michael Joseph | 400 pp
Rights sold: Chinese Simplified (Yilin Press), Korean (Gimm-Young Publishers), Russian (Eksmo)
MICHAEL JOSEPH BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR
MALA'S CAT Mala Kacenberg
A moving Holocaust memoir about the unlikely friendship between a young Jewish girl and a stray cat and their survival against the odds.
Alone in a forest with only a cat for company, this is the deeply moving true story of one little girl's remarkable survival in the shadow of the Holocaust.
Twelve-year-old Mala Szorer has no choice but to give up her childhood. In return she stands a chance of survival and so, she decides to walk tall, towards freedom, towards life.
Growing up in the Polish village of Tarnogrod on the fringes of a deep pine forest, gives Mala the happiest childhood she could have hoped for. But, as the German invasion begins, her beloved village becomes a ghetto and her family and friends reduced to starvation. She takes matters into her own hands, and bravely removes her yellow star, risking sneaking out to the surrounding villages to barter for food.
It is on her way back that she sees her loved ones rounded up for deportation, and receives a smuggled letter from her sister warning her to stay away. With only her cat, Malach, and the strength of the stories taught by her family, she walks away from everything she holds dear.
Malach becomes her family, her only respite from painful loneliness, a guide and reminder to stay hopeful even when faced with unfathomable darkness. With her guardian angel by her side, Mala finds a way to navigate the dangerous forests, outwit German soldiers and hostile villagers, and survive, against all odds.
Watch the editor, Ariel Pakier, discuss this title here.
Mala Kacenberg (née Szorer) was born in Tarnogrod, Poland in 1927. As World War II broke out, Mala found herself having to fend for herself at the tender age of 12, eventually escaping the ghetto and surviving in the forest, witnessing the horrors unfold in front of her. Surviving by her wits, courage and the help of a guardian angel (her cat Malach), she was the sole survivor of her family. Mala immigrated to London with other Jewish refugees after the war, where she raised a large beautiful family, living long enough to be blessed with many grandchildren.
2 January 2022 | Ariel Pakier for Michael Joseph | 288 pp
MICHAEL JOSEPH BIOGRAPHY AND MEMOIR
TRAIN LORD Oliver Mol
From a blazing new voice, an achingly witty, lyrical and heartbreaking memoir about a 10-month migraine, a recovery in Australia, and a job on the railway when there were no other options
The first day of train school our teacher asked us what we would do if we were on the train, and we had to go to the toilet, and we’d already had our break. For a while, no one spoke. I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t want to talk about the migraine or how I’d failed as a writer. I didn’t want to talk about pain. So I said my name was Oliver and that I loved to cook.
What happens when a writer can no longer write? What happens when pain is so intense that you question who you are and whether you can bare it any longer?
Oliver Mol was a successful, clever, healthy twenty-five-year old. Then one day the migraine started. For ten months, the pain was constant, exacerbated by writing, reading, using computers, looking at phones or anything with a screen. Slowly he became a writer who no longer wrote, and a person who could no longer could communicate with the modern world. In literature, and life, Oliver began to disappear.
This is Oliver’s story of his frightening descent into living with perpetual pain. His doctors can’t figure out how to fix him. Oliver suffers a breakdown. One evening, high on painkillers, he Googles the only thing he can think of: ‘full-time job, no experience, Sydney’. An ad for a train guard appears. For two years, Oliver will watch others live their lives, observing the minutia and intimacy of strangers brought together briefly and connected by the steady march of time.
Exquisitely written and bravely told, Train Lord is a searingly personal yet universal book, which asks what happens when your sense of self is suddenly destroyed and how you get it back.
Oliver Mol is the author of the critically acclaimed Lion Attack! He was the inaugural winner of the Scribe Nonfiction Prize for Young Writers as well as the recipient of an Australian Council Grant. In 2020, the stage show of Train Lord proved a runaway success during the Sydney Fringe Season. Oliver grew up dividing his time between Texas and Brisbane and now lives in Sydney.
31 March 2022 | Jillian Taylor for Michael Joseph | 272 pp
MICHAEL JOSEPH BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR
BREAKING POINTS Dr Duncan Harding
The harrowing and moving memoir of forensic psychiatrist Dr Duncan Harding.
Duncan Harding's job is to understand criminals. His is a life spent with serial killers, psychopaths, violent children - in the prison service, the Old Bailey and at Broadmoor psychiatric hospital, he reckons daily with humankind's unimaginable capacity for cruelty.
Yet the humanity he discovers is perhaps the most shocking. The people Harding meets tell chilling stories of modern Britain, and the paths they were led down towards the most horrific of acts.
In his attempts to make sense of crimes, Harding confronts agonizing questions. When to call for justice, argue for mercy, break confidentiality - when to look closer, to believe, to forgive.
Breaking Points reveals the hard decisions we all must make when we come face to face with the unspeakable.
Duncan Harding is a consultant forensic child psychiatrist, working with young people who commit serious crime. He is the clinical lead for child forensic community services across South London, and has a research interest in conduct disorder and criminal psychopathy.
03 February 2022 | Rowland White for Michael Joseph | 400 pp
MICHAEL JOSEPH BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR
AQUANAUT: A LIFE BENEATH THE SURFACE Rick Stanton
The enthralling autobiography of cave-diver Rick Stanton, who played a leading role in the Thai cave rescue in 2018
Why were the Wild Boars in Tham Luang in the first place? I know, because I share their passion: to explore the wild, secret places of the world, and to revel in adventure.
When Rick Stanton searched through mud and floodwater in the Tham Luang caves in 2018, finding the twelve missing boys and their football coach alive was more than anyone dared hope. In a rescue mission that held the entire world in its thrall, Rick and his team successfully brought all thirteen to safety.
A former firefighter and cave-diver since his college years, Rick has never shied from danger, exploring where few dare venture and rescuing people from unimaginable peril. Aquanaut reveals what it takes to become capable of such extraordinary acts of bravery and skill in the most hostile, remote environments on earth. What it's like to explore the world that exists beneath our feet.
And how it feels, when a person is trapped miles underground, cut off from food, air and contact with the outside, to know that you are one of the few people in the world with the skills to bring them to safety.
A big-budget movie of the cave rescue, Thirteen Lives, is now in production, directed by Ron Howard and scripted by one of the writers of Gladiator, with Viggo Mortensen playing Rick Stanton and Colin Farrell playing his fellow rescuer and diving partner, John Volanthen.
Watch the editor, Rowland White, pitch this title here.
Rick Stanton MBE was the cave diver who, together with is friend John Volanthen, found the dry chamber where twelve young soccer players and their coach had been trapped by flooding in the Tham Luang cave in Thailand. He went on to plan and lead their rescue through almost a mile of tunnels with no airspace, for which he and Volanthen were awarded the George Medal by her Majesty the Queen. He was able to execute this because of his extraordinary cave diving experience over the preceding thirty-seven years. He has explored vast newly- discovered caves in countries including Britain, Mexico, France, Vietnam, Spain and the United States.
08 July 2021 | Rowland White for Michael Joseph | 400pp
TRANSWORLD
TRANSWORLD CRIME & THRILLER
A PARLIAMENT OF MONSTERS Stuart MacBride
The stunning new crime novel from number one Sunday Times bestselling author Stuart MacBride. Investigations into a cold case uncover a network of corruption that goes right to the top…
Introducing an original and intriguing new lead character, A Parliament of Monsters showcases a crime-writing master at the top of his game.
Eighteen years ago, eleven-year-old Cameron Strachan murdered a homeless man on the streets of Oldcastle. Now Cameron has served his sentence and been released back into the community. But he's never named his accomplice, never talked about why the two of them committed such a terrible crime all those years ago.
Detective Sergeant Lucy McVey is sure there's more to this particular cold case, and the more she digs, the more suspicious things seem: it looks like Cameron's accomplice isn't the only killer out there who's never had to answer for their crimes. As Lucy's investigation leads her towards a number of respectable, upstanding members of the community, she knows she'll have to tread carefully. Because these people hold all the power, and Lucy has seen enough evidence to know that going up against them will get you dead and disappeared…
Stuart MacBride is the Sunday Times No.1 bestselling author of the Logan McRae and Ash Henderson novels. He is also the author of numerous standalones, novellas, and short stories. A Parliament of Monsters is his first book for Transworld. Stuart lives in the northeast of Scotland.
27 January 2022 | Frankie Gray for Bantam Press | 384 pp
TRANSWORLD LITERARY FICTION
DRIFT Caryl Lewis
A hauntingly atmospheric love story about a young Welsh woman and a Syrian refugee.
Nefyn has always been a mystery, even to her brother Joseph with whom she lives in a small cottage above a blustery cove. She wanders the beaches, collecting flotsam and wrestling with the impossible lure of the sea, but choosing to 'feel too much' over the numbness the little white pills bring her.
A few miles up the coast is a military base, rigorously guarded by armed soldiers and drones. Here Hamza, a refugee with a dark past, lies incarcerated, the only kindness he knows administered by the old doctor who visits him more regularly than he should.
When one day Hamza is transported from the base, a violent storm hits, hurling the prison van over the cliff edge. Miraculously, he washes up on Nefyn's beach, and she takes him into her care. But the authorities are suspicious, and soon a man hunt begins...
Surprising and powerful, this is a love story with a difference, rooted in a time and place that is familiar and strange, current and timeless, and enrichened with magic and mystery. It is about lost identity, the trauma of war and the enduring power of kindness.
Watch the author and editor in conversation here.
Caryl Lewis is a multi-award-winning Welsh novelist, children’s writer, playwright and screenwriter. Her breakthrough novel Martha, Jac a Sianco (2004) is widely regarded as a modern classic of Welsh literature, is on the Welsh curriculum, and the film adaptation – with a screenplay by Lewis herself – went on to win six Welsh BAFTAs and the Spirit of the Festival Award at the 2010 Celtic Media Festival. Lewis’s other screenwriting work includes BBC/S4C thrillers Hinterland and Hidden. Lewis is a visiting lecturer in Creative Writing at Cardiff University, and lives with her family on a farm near Aberystwyth. Drift is her first novel in the English langauge.
21 April 2022 | Alice Youell for Doubleday | 176 pp
TRANSWORLD IDEAS
A BOOK OF SECRETS Derren Brown
A wonderfully wise and entertaining exploration of how we best live and grow from the bestselling author of Happy.
Perhaps being happy is not the answer after all.
Moving on from the Stoics whose ideas informed his last book, the ever-thoughtful Derren Brown continues his pursuit of what brings meaning to life and how best to muddle through it with reference to some of the world's great philosophers.
Beginning with the ideas of Carl Jung and the notion that whatever we might try to hide and bury in our past will always come back to bite us, he has to wonder if the Greeks were right - unless we tend to all aspects of our lives and who we are, the snubbed secreted aspects of ourselves will wreak revenge. Rather than avoid disturbance perhaps it is essential for a healthy life. Perhaps we need to accept and experience complexity. Is anxiety in fact a pointer for growth? Is a good place only good because it sits between the twin pulls of wild happiness and distress? And what is the secret that lies in this good place?
Derren Brown began his television career in 2000 with a series of specials called Mind Control. Since redefining the genre of magic for intelligent, modern audiences, he has become synonymous with the art of psychological manipulation. His TV shows have become must-see events. Amongst a varied and notorious career, Derren has played Russian Roulette on live television, convinced middle-managers to commit an armed robbery in the street, led the nation in a séance, stuck viewers to their sofas, successfully predicted the National Lottery, motivated a shy man to land a packed passenger plane at 30,000 feet, exposed psychic and faith-healing charlatans, and hypnotised a man to assassinate Stephen Fry. On top of this he tours the UK every year with a sell-out stage show and has recently finished a run on Broadway, NYC. He is the author of five books: Tricks of the Mind, Confessions of a Conjuror, Happy, A Little Happier and Portraits.
16 September 2021 | Susanna Wadeson for Bantam Press | 384 pp
TRANSWORLD HISTORY
MAKING MENGELE Guy Walters
A new biography of the notorious personality produced by the Third Reich: Josef Mengele. A man who has by far the darkest and most enduring resonance, he continues to fascinate us today, seventy-five years after the war, and over forty years since he drowned.
But why does the intrigue around Mengele continue tothis day?
This is a seemingly straightforward question that this biography seeks to answer. In order to do so, Making Mengele will examine how a well-heeled, handsome, charming, kind, and intelligent young doctor became, for a comparatively brief time, capable of committing the most sadistic and evil acts imaginable. As the photographs and testimonies re-documented here will show, Mengele was a man of many and huge contradictions, to the extent that he simply cannot only be characterised as a 'monster'. Such an approach is too dismissive, too easy.
Unsurprisingly, Mengele certainly did not see himself as a monster. We therefore need to understand why, even until the end of his life, Mengele regarded himself as a deeply moral human being - indeed a man who benefited humanity - and bridled at the notion that he was the 'Angel of Death'. This book will also examine the image of Mengele, and what he became in the public imagination both when he was in hiding and even after his death. There undoubtedly remains a sharp disconnect between the man Mengele really was, and the almost supernatural and darkly angelic figure he became in the eyes of the world.
The question is - how did this happen? And specifically, why did it happen with Mengele?
Guy Walters is the author of two history books on the Second World War, Hunting Evil and Berlin Games. He is also the author of four thrillers set in the same period. A former Times journalist, he writes widely on historical topics for the national press.
21 January 2022 | Bill Scott-Kerr for Bantam Press | 480 pp
TRANSWORLD POLITICS & SOCIETY
FREEDOM: HOW WE LOSE IT AND HOW WE GET IT BACK Nathan Law
What does it mean to be truly free? And can any of us be free until all of us are?
In this short manifesto, Nathan Law explores the meaning of freedom, and shows how easily freedoms can be eroded or dismantled. Freedom is all the more precious for its fragility – it is not a given, and each generation must fight to protect it, whether in emerging democracies or in the Western world where freedom is too often taken for granted.
Using his own experience as a political activist in Hong Kong, Nathan Law explores not just how important freedom is for human beings to thrive in principle, but how it works in reality across the world.
What does it mean to be able to speak freely, and what happens when the concept falls down? How can the law both protect and abolish our freedoms? And why should we place such importance on free and fair elections?
With the nature of democratic freedom being hotly debated across the world, and sometimes feeling under threat, this is a timely manifesto about freedom and why we should fight for it.
Watch the editor, Alex Christofi, pitch this title here.
In 2016, Nathan Law became Hong Kong's youngest ever elected lawmaker at the age of just 23. A year later, he was imprisoned by the Chinese authorities for his part in the Umbrella Movement. He has since been nominated for a Nobel Peace Price for his pro-democracy advocacy, and he was named among the Observer's Faces of 2020, as well as TIME magazine's People of the Year. He has a Master’s degree in East Asian Studies from Yale University.
04 November 2021 | Alex Christofi for Bantam Press | 208 pp
TRANSWORLD SCIENCE & MEDICAL MEMOIR
IN THE WARS: A STORY OF CONFLICT, SURVIVAL AND SAVING LIVES Dr Waheed Arian
For readers of War Doctor and Educated, a doctor's story of grit and resilience, from the war-torn streets of Kabul to saving lives around the world.
Born in war-torn Afghanistan, Waheed Arian's earliest memories are of bombs. Fleeing the conflict with his family, he spent much of his childhood in refugee camps in Pakistan, living sometimes ten to a room without basic sanitation or access to education. After he contracted tuberculosis, his first-hand experience of the power of medicine inspired Waheed to dedicate his life to healing others. But how does a boy with nothing hope to become a doctor?
Waheed largely taught himself, from textbooks bought from street-sellers, and learned English from the BBC World Service. Smuggled to the UK at fifteen with just $100 in his pocket, he was advised to set his sights on becoming a taxi driver. But he had bigger ambitions. He studied all hours and was accepted to read medicine at Cambridge University, and went on to become a doctor in the NHS.
In 2015 he founded Arian Teleheal, a pioneering global charity that connects doctors in war zones and low-resource countries with their counterparts in the US, UK, Europe and Australia. Together, learning from each other, they save and change lives - the lives of millions of people just like Waheed.
Waheed Arian is an NHS A&E doctor. His pioneering charity, Arian Teleheal, woks directly with clinicians on the ground, and provides governments and global organizations with a blueprint for delivering innovative healthcare and education. Dr Arian has been recognized as a UNESCO Global Hope Hero, a UN Global Goals Goalkeeper, an NHS Innovation Mentor, and was appointed to the WHO Roster of Digital Health Experts in 2019. In the UK, he has been awarded the Rotary Internation Peace Award and the Prime Minister's Points of Light Award.
17 June 2021 | Andrea Henry for Bantam Press | 320 pp
TRANSWORLD SCIENCE & MEDICAL MEMOIR
SUPERCHARGE YOUR BRAIN: HOW TO MAINTAIN A HEALTHY BRAIN THROUGHOUT YOUR LIFE James Goodwin
Leading brain health expert Professor James Goodwin delivers practical advice on how to optimise our brain’s performance and halt cognitive decline.
The definitive guide to keeping your brain healthy for a long and lucid life, by one of the world's leading scientists in the field of brain health and ageing.
The brain is our most vital and complex organ. It controls and coordinates our actions, thoughts and interactions with the world around us. It is the source of personality, of our sense of self, and it shapes every aspect of our human experience.
Yet most of us know precious little about how our brains actually work, or what we can do to optimise their performance. Whilst cognitive decline is the biggest long-term health worry for many of us, practical knowledge of how to look after our brain is thin on the ground.
Combining the latest scientific research with insightful storytelling and practical advice, Supercharge Your Brain reveals everything you need to know about how your brain functions, and what you can do to keep it in peak condition. In this ground-breaking new book, leading expert Professor James Goodwin explains how simple strategies concerning exercise, diet, social life and sleep can transform your brain health paradigm, and shows how you can keep your brain youthful and stay sharp across your life.
James Goodwin is a director of the Brain Health Network and a special adviser to the Global Council on Brain Health. He holds an honorary chair at the University of Exeter Medical School and is a visiting professor in physiology at the University of Loughborough. A former army officer and a graduate of Sandhurst, he is also a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences.
01 April 2021 | Henry Vines for Bantam Press | 384 pp Rights sold: Bulgarian (Ciela Norma), Japanese (Bungei Shunju), Korean (Hyundaejisung), Polish (Muza), US (Pegasus Books)
TRANSWORLD LIFESTYLE, HEALTH & SELF DEVELOPMENT
THE SENSATIONAL TODDLER SLEEP PLAN Alison Scott-Wright
The author of the bestselling The Sensational Baby Sleep Plan shows parents how to deal with sleep issues in older babies and children. With a foreword by Millie Mackintosh.
From the author of the hugely successful The Sensational Baby Sleep Plan comes the follow- up guide, helping parents to deal with sleep issues in children aged twelve months plus.
The Sensational Toddler Sleep Plan gives parents clear and realistic advice on how to: implement her proven and failsafe reassurance sleep-training technique and establish healthy bedtime associations for the older baby, toddler or child; understand your toddler's development and implement routine boundaries through responsible and positive parenting; manage the changes to routine such as moving from cot to bed and travelling through time zones; and introduce a new baby into the family and deal with sibling issues.
Alison also provides her much sought-after advice on acid reflux and dietary-related intolerances for the older baby, toddler and child. This is a book that will help readers manage the transition from baby to toddler and ensure the whole family gets the sleep they need.
Alison Scott-Wright comes from a vast and varied nursing background. Her successful and ever-expanding consultancy service gives parents factual, reality-based advice on a range of baby-related issues. She is found on twitter as @babysleepexpert.
12 August 2021 | Lizzy Goudsmit for Bantam Press | 288 pp
TRANSWORLD BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR
TERRY PRATCHETT: A LIFE WITH FOOTNOTES Rob Wilkins
The official biography of one of the world's best-loved and bestselling storytellers, Sir Terry Pratchett, by the person who was, for over 25 years, his assistant, business manager, close friend and confidante: Rob Wilkins.
‘People think that stories are shaped by people. In fact, it's the other way around.'
Terry Pratchett, creator of the phenomenally bestselling Discworld series, knight of the realm, and holder of more honorary doctorates than he knew what to do with, was known and loved around the world for his wildly popular books, his brilliant satirical humour and for the humanity of his campaign work. But that's only part of the picture.
At the time of his death in 2015, he was working on his finest story yet - his own. The story of a boy who was told by his headteacher aged six that he would never amount to anything, and spent the rest of his life proving him wrong. Who walked out on his A levels to become a journalist, encountering some very dead bodies and the idea for his first novel before he reached twenty. Who celebrated his knighthood by smelting himself a sword, and who, on being awarded the prestigious Carnegie Medal, switched it during the prizegiving for a chocolate replica and proceeded to eat it in front of an audience of horrified librarians.
Tragically, Terry ran out of time to complete the memoir he so desperately wanted to write. But now, in the only authorised biography of one of our best known and best loved writers, his manager and friend Rob Wilkins picks up where Terry left off, and with the help of friends, family and Terry's own unpublished words, tells the full story of an extraordinary life.
Rob Wilkins was for many years Terry's personal assistant and business manager, travelling with him around the world and acting as amanuensis during the writing of the Discworld novels. This will be the only authorised memoir of Sir Terry Pratchett.
30 September 2021 | Suzanne Bridson for Doubleday | 352 pp
Rights sold: Polish (Insignis)
VINTAGE
VINTAGE CRIME & THRILLER
DEADLY CURE Mahi Cheshire
An exhilarating debut thriller set in a hospital, following the ferocious race between two women to find a breakthrough cure.
The Hippocratic Oath: First, do no harm...
Dr Rea Darsena is devastated when she loses out on her dream research job to her med-school rival, Dr Julia Stone. At first she's prepared to bow out gracefully. But when it comes to light that Julia got the job using Rea's own cutting edge research on a possible new treatment for cancer, Rea can't let it go. As Julia's work goes from strength to strength Rea watches obsessively.
Until finally, just after a breakthrough that will change the course of medical history, Julia is found dead.
Now Rea has the dream job she's always wanted. A job she would - almost - have killed for. But as she steps into Julia's shoes she begins to uncover disturbing evidence that stalked Julia's final days - anonymous phone calls, unidentifiable patient records - and a hospital basement that doesn't officially exist. As suspicion starts to fall on Rea as the prime suspect in the murder case, she begins to question everything - not just in the case, but in the hospital too.
With so much at stake, who makes the decisions here - who gets to live and who has to die?
Perfect for fans of The Silent Patient and Grey's Anatomy, Deadly Cure is a thrilling fast-paced story with a compelling hook - is there a toxic flip-side to the human urge to 'cure'?
Watch the author pitch Deadly Cure here.
Mahi Cheshire was born in Sri Lanka and grew up in London. She works as a GP, has a degree in Psychology and teaches at Kings College Medical School. She loves travelling, kundalini yoga and boxing, all of which provide inspiration for her writing. She lives in London with her husband and baby daughter.
06 January 2022 | Jade Chandler for Vintage | 384 pp
VINTAGE CRIME & THRILLER
HUNTED Abir Mukherjee
Two parents, a white American woman and British Muslim man, are thrown together in a race against time to find their radicalised children before they carry out a terrorist attack or are killed trying.
It's less than a month till the US presidential elections. A bomb goes off in an LA mall. It's a suicide bombing, carried out by a British Muslim girl. The FBI trace her arrival on US soil and realise that she wasn't alone, and that the LA attack is only the beginning.
In Florida, a mother fears her son has been radicalised. In London, the police bring in a Muslim immigrant for questioning about his child's whereabouts.
The two parents are thrown together in a race to find their kids before it's too late. Will they succeed?
Will the FBI hunt their children down? Or will both fail to stop the teenagers committing an atrocity which derails the country's future?
Watch the author pitch this title here.
Abir Mukherjee is the bestselling author of the award-winning Wyndham & Banerjee series of crime novels set in Raj-era India. He has won the CWA Historical Dagger and the Wilbur Smith Award for Adventure Writing, and has been shortlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger, and HWA Gold Crown. His novels, A Rising Man and Smoke and Ashes were both selected as Waterstones Thriller of the Month. Smoke and Ashes was also chosen as one of The Times’ Best Crime and Thrillers since 1945.
14 April 2022 | Jade Chandler for Harvill Secker | 354 pp Rights sold: US (Hachette US)
VINTAGE CRIME & THRILLER
The Cook Ajay Chowdhury
The second instalment in Ajay Chowdhury's distinctive and page-turning Kamil Rahman crime series.
A woman is found killed in her flat, and a series of murders in London's East End soon follows...
Kamil and Anjoli continue to work together in a curry house in London's Brick Lane. Kamil has graduated from waiter to cook, while Anjoli manages the restaurant with her usual flair. But soon they are embroiled in a string of mysterious murders - Anjoli suspects that someone is killing homeless people around their restaurant.
The police are indifferent but Kamil and Anjoli are determined - they notice the same bottleof gin lying next to each dead body as well as a noted increase in the number of street casualties. But there are no obvious signs of poisoning or violence.
Is it just a coincidence, or is a serial killer at work?
As they move between life and death in a nursing college hospital, the ups and downs of running a restaurant, and the streets of the East End where many sleep rough, Kamil and Anjoli slowly begin to put together a series of seemingly unconnected incidents, with lashings of Indian cooking and the bustle of Brick Lane providing a lively backdrop to this thought- provoking read.
Ajay Chowdhury is the winner of the inaugural Harvill Secker and Bloody Scotland competition. He is a tech entrepreneur and theatre director who lived the first third of his life in India and then moved to London, where he cooks experimental meals for his wife and daughters. His debut crime thriller, The Waiter will be published in 2021.
09 June 2022 | Jade Chandler for Harvill Secker | 384 pp
VINTAGE CRIME & THRILLER
MURDER TAKES THE STAGE Ada Moncrieff
Murder stalks a touring stage production of A Christmas Carol in this 1930s-set festive mystery.
December 1935. Director Monty Harrison's production of A Christmas Carol has had a troubled run on its tour of regional theatres. With tensions amongst the cast running high, the company reach their final stop - London's Theatre Royale.
Catastrophe, however, strikes on opening night: Scrooge dies on stage, the result (it is presumed) of a heart attack. But the show must go on.
Until, that is, a leading theatre critic - and old rival of Monty's - is killed backstage. Are those associated with the production being picked off one by one? Budding journalist Daphne King takes up the case...
Ada Moncrieff was born in London and has lived in Madrid and Paris. She studied English at Cambridge University, and has worked in theatre, publishing and as a teacher. Her first novel, Murder Most Festive was published in 2020.
04 November 2021 | Alex Russell for Vintage | 304 pp
VINTAGE LITERARY FICTION
MY POLICEMAN Bethan Roberts
An exquisitely told, tragic tale of thwarted love, soon to be a feature film, starring Golden Globe winning actress, Emma Corrin (The Crown) and Harry Styles.
It is in 1950s' Brighton that Marion first catches sight of Tom.
He teaches her to swim in the shadow of the pier and Marion is smitten - determined her love will be enough for them both.
A few years later in Brighton Museum, Patrick meets Tom.
Patrick is besotted with Tom, who opens his eyes to a glamorous, sophisticated new world.
Tom is their policeman, and in this age it is safer for him to marry Marion. The two lovers must share him, until one of them breaks and three lives are destroyed.
'A moving story of longing and frustration' Observer
Bethan Roberts was born in Oxford and grew up in nearby Abingdon. Her first novel The Pools was published in 2007 and won a Jerwood/Arvon Young Writers' Award. Her second novel The Good Plain Cook, published in 2008, was serialized on BBC Radio 4's Book at Bedtime and was chosen as one of Time Out's books of the year. She also writes short stories (in 2006 she was awarded the Olive Cook short story prize by the Society of Authors) and has had a play broadcast on BBC Radio 4. Bethan has worked as a television documentary researcher, writer and assistant producer, and has taught Creative Writing at Chichester University and Goldsmiths College, London. She lives in Brighton with her family.
02 August 2012 | Beth Coates for Vintage | 352 pp Rights sold: German (Antje Kunstmann), Hebrew (Yedioth Ahronoth), Italy (Frassinelli), US (Penguin Group US)
VINTAGE HISTORY
URBAN JUNGLE Ben Wilson
An eye-opening and urgent exploration of nature and the city - past, present and future.
For millennia, cities have seemed to represent our separation from the natural world and our victory over it. They are a kind of battleground, where humans have used technologies to reengineer the environment. In the early 21st century, we have reached a turning point: we have now urbanised our planet, but natural forces - be they rising waters, storms, droughts or pandemics - look set to determine the fate of our cities in the future.
In fact, as Ben Wilson reveals, nature has always been at the heart of the city, and our post- industrial cities are much wilder places than we might imagine, with booming animal and plant populations. The project of rewilding the city has already begun. People around the worldare realising that cities are not dead, artificial zones, but complex and diverse habitats, and a place that is healthy for animals and plants is healthier for humans as well. Where cities once built walls and towers to defend against attack; now they have to become greener to protect themselves from external threats.
Rewilding the city is not a distant utopian dream: nature is already reclaiming the city. In a time of climate crisis, the city is both problem and solution. The extent to which cities strike a balance with nature will determine the fate of our cities. In this thrilling re-examination of the way we live, Ben Wilson argues that we stand at a crossroads. Our future - and that of the planet - will be made in the city.
Watch the author and editor, Bea Hemming, in conversation here.
Ben Wilson is the author of a number of critically acclaimed books, including What Price Liberty?, for which he received the Somerset Maugham Award. Most recently, his history of the city, Metropolis, has sold in 29 territories. He has worked in television, broadcast on the radio in several countries, and writes regularly for publications such as The Times, Daily Telegraph and Prospect.
05 January 2023 | Bea Hemming for Jonathan Cape | 320 pp Rights sold: US (Doubleday)
VINTAGE POLITICS & SOCIETY
THE AGE OF THE STRONGMAN Gideon Rachman
Gideon Rachman explores the spread of leadership cults, polarised politics and urban-rural divisions in order to understand the rise of 'strongmen' and a new global nationalism.
We are in a new era: the age of the strongman. Authoritarian leaders have become a central feature of global politics. Over the last decade, self-styled ‘strongmen’ have risen to power in capitals as diverse as Moscow, Delhi, Tokyo, Brasilia, Budapest, Rome, Ankara, Cairo, Riyadh and Manila.
This trend began well before the upheavals of 2016. When and where did this change take place? How long will this period last? And how likely is it to lead the world into war, economic collapse or unchecked environmental disaster? This is a story in three acts: the rise of the strongmen; the liberal fightback; and the probable consequences of the strongman era.
From Putin and Bolsonaro, Erdogan, Xi, Modi and Trump, to the opposition of Merkel, Macron, and Ardern, Rachman pays full attention to the strongman phenomenon in countries that are too often eclipsed, uncovers a complex interaction between rising Asian powers and a declining West, where very different reasons explain growing nationalisms.
The Age of the Strongman finds the common themes in our local nightmares and offers a bold new paradigm for understanding our world; whilst others have tried to understand these situations individually, Gideon Rachman’s will be the first truly global treatment of the new nationalism, underpinned by an exceptional level of access to world leaders and key actors in this drama.
Gideon Rachman is the chief foreign affairs columnist for the Financial Times. In 2016 he won the Orwell Prize for Journalism and was named Commentator of the Year at the European Press Prize awards. Previously he worked for The Economist for fifteen years, serving as a foreign correspondent in Washington, Bangkok and Brussels.
24 February 2022 | Stuart Williams for Bodley Head | 288 pp
VINTAGE POLITICS & SOCIETY
UNATTACHED: ESSAYS ON CELEBRATING SINGLE WOMANHOOD Angelica Malin
An anthology of essays by diverse female voices exploring and celebrating single womanhood in the modern age.
Have you ever worried about going on holiday alone? Felt queasy at the thought of Valentine's Day without a date? Thought to yourself, "I want what she has?" This book is the tonic you need.
Each chapter of Unattached will explore the nuances of being single today; with personal essays from a multitude of game- changing voices, reflecting both the unique challenges of being single (hello, going to a wedding alone), and the glorious benefits of singlehood in a light- hearted way (goodbye, joint bank account).
The single positivity movement is here, and this book will turbo-charge the revolution. We need more female single role models now more than ever - sharing their stories, inspiration and warmth. Unattached shines a light on brilliant women stepping into their power, shrugging off the shackles of traditional labels, owning being alone, and reveals the true depth of female potential when we choose to go against what society expects of us and revel in our own strength.
An award-winning entrepreneur, podcast and event host based in London, Angelica Malin is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of About Time Magazine, one of the UK's leading lifestyle magazines. Angelica also runs #SheStartedItLIVE, a festival of female empowerment and is the author of She Made It: The Toolkit for Female Founders in the Digital Age.
03 February 2022 | Mireille Harper for Square Peg | 384 pp
VINTAGE CULTURE & ART
MUSE: UNCOVERING THE HIDDEN FIGURES BEHIND ART HISTORY'S MASTERPIECES Ruth Millington
A revealing exploration of the unexpected, overlooked and forgotten, models of art history - reframing the muse as an empowered agent of art history
Artists have always been moved to create portraits of their muses; we instantly recognise many of their faces from the world's most iconic artworks. But, just who was Picasso's 'Weeping Woman'? Why was Grace Jones covered in graffiti? How did Francis Bacon meet the burglar who became his muse?
Far from posing silently, muses have brought emotional support, intellectual energy, career- changing creativity and practical help to artists. However, the perception of the muse is that of a passive, powerless model, usually young, attractive and female, at the mercy of an influential and older male artist. Could this impression be incorrect and unfair? Is this trope a romanticised myth? Have people embraced, even sought, the status of muse? Most importantly, where would artists be without them?
With examples from the ancient world to today, this book will tell the true stories of thirty incredible muses who have inspired art history's masterpieces. From Leonardo da Vinci's studio to the covers of Vogue, Muse will uncover their true role in some of art history's most well-known and regarded masterpieces. From job centre supervisors and burglars to homeless men in Harlem, Muse will tell the stories of thirty remarkable lives, deconstructing reductive stereotypes of the muse. From performing muse to muses who have been turned into messages, it will delve into the real-life relationships that models have held with the artists who immortalised them, and expose the influential and active part they have played.
Watch the author and editor in conversation here.
Ruth Millington is an art historian, writer and critic. After studying for an MA in art history at the University of Oxford, she has spent many years working for museums and galleries including the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology, the Estorick Collection of Modern Italian Art and renowned modern art dealership Connaught Brown. She reguarly appears as an art expert on UK radio and TV including BBC, ITV and Channel 4 programmes, and has written for national newspapers including the Telegraph, the i, Daily Mail and Express, and art platforms Rise Art and Art UK. Muse is her first book.
24 February 2022 | Mireille Harper for Square Peg | 272 pp
VINTAGE CULTURE & ART
GREEK MYTHS Charlotte Higgins
A major new retelling of the Greek myths for a new generation, with original drawings by world- renowned artist Chris Ofili.
Charlotte Higgins’ spellbinding new collection will include all the most famous Greek myths, as well as many less well- known but equally intriguing ones.
Here are stories of the creation, of Heracles and Theseus and Perseus, the Trojan War and its origins and aftermaths, tales of Thebes and Argos and Athens. There are stories of love and desire, adventure and magic, destructive gods, helpless humans, gender-shifting characters, resourceful witches, and the origins of birds and animals.
Taking her cue from Ovid, Charlotte Higgins has an intriguing structural device to thread her stories together. Inspired by the many moments in Greek myths in which women are seen to weave stories on to textiles (such as Helen of Troy in Homer, and Arachne and Minerva in Ovid), the tales will be told as if they are scenes in the act of being woven on to textiles by women. And, while not operating as an explicitly feminist retelling, this will add a new dimension to her myths, bringing women narrators and characters into the foreground.
Above all, Greek Myths is an original work of literature and scholarship by an exceptionally talented writer. It is a book to be enjoyed as a work of art, a source to be consulted, a present to be given, and an object to keep and treasure.
Watch the editor, Bea Hemming, pitch this title here.
Charlotte Higgins' previous books include the acclaimed Under Another Sky: Journeys in Roman Britain, which was shortlisted for awards including the Samuel Johnson (now Baillie Gifford) Prize for non-fiction, and Red Thread, which was a Radio 4 Book of the Week and won the Arnold Bennett Prize 2019. She is chief culture writer of the Guardian, a past winner of the Classical Association prize, and a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries.
09 September 2021 | Bea Hemming for Jonathan Cape | 352 pp Rights sold: US (Knopf)
VINTAGE SCIENCE & MEDICAL MEMOIR
YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE MAD TO WORK HERE Benji Waterhouse
A witty, candid, poignant memoir by a major new writing talent, with urgent things to say about the crisis in mental healthcare.
What's the difference between a psychiatrist, a psychologist and a psychic? What shouldn't you say to a psychopath? Why would anyone in their right mind choose to spend their 9-5 around human distress? What happens when you discover no magic treatments for unhappiness exist?
Is there any hope for the future? (Yes.)
This is a fly-on-the-padded-wall account of life as a junior psychiatrist. Humane, humorous, candid and myth-busting (spoiler: there are no padded walls), Benji Waterhouse reveals the sometimes terrifying, sometimes absurd reality of life on both sides of the doctor's desk. This is Benji's story of becoming a psychiatrist. Of temporarily leaving the profession disillusioned, burnt out and compassion fatigued. And of finally rediscovering his empathy to return to help fight the pandemic afflicting the nation's lungs and minds.
We meet the lorry driver with bipolar disorder who after being furloughed believes he's discovered the cure for coronavirus. The teenager with psychosis triggered by her period. The patient with OCD who survived after taking an overdose of 99 paracetamols (they bought 100 but dropped one on the floor and it got germs on). The man with schizophrenia who thinks his loving mother is a witch. The patient with Jerusalem Syndrome who after visiting the Holy Land believes he's Jesus. And the depressed psychiatrist who hides his profession from his GP due to stigma.
'Most of these characters are my patients. Some of them are my family. And one of them is me.'
Watch the author pitch the book here.
Benji Waterhouse is a frontline NHS doctor specialising in psychiatry with a decade's worth of experience, and an award-winning stand-up comedian. His has done three sell-out Edinburgh Festival shows - Shrink, A-Z of Madness and The Ayahuasca Diaries - and will be performing his debut hour-long Edinburgh Fringe show in August 2021. He has written for The Guardian and The Independent, and featured in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) podcast, and featured in a list of 'Inspiring Psychiatrists' by the Royal College of Psychiatrists.
05 May 2022 | Bea Hemming for Jonathan Cape | 288 pp Rights sold: Chinese Simplified (Beijing Imaginist Time Culture Co.), Polish (ZNAK Spoleczny Instytut), Russian (Eksmo)
VINTAGE NATURE & ENVIRONMENT
THE SWAN Stephen Moss
The new title from the author of The Robin, The Wren and The Swallow.
In this stylish title, bestselling nature writer Stephen Moss masterfully traces the lifecycle of the beloved swan through the seasons.
Through Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter, Stephen Moss traces the lifecycle of the swan. From its arrival in Spring to its extraordinary winter migration to warmer climes, to the swan's place in popular culture and literature across the centuries from old symbolism and modern myths, The Swan is an elegant guide to our most elegant bird.
Stephen Moss is a naturalist, author and broadcaster. In a distinguished career at the BBC Natural History Unit his credits included Springwatch, Birds Britannia and The Nature of Britain. His books include The Wren, The Robin, The Swallow and Wonderland. He is the President of the Somerset Wildlife Trust and a Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at Bath Spa University. Originally from London, he now lives on the Somerset Levels.
28 October 2021 | Mireille Harper for Square Peg | 208 pp
VINTAGE SPORT
A WHOLE NEW BALL GAME: SAVING FOOTBALL FROM ITSELF Mark Gregory
Three lions on the shirt, grassroots underfunded... A revealing and shocking analysis of the state of the English game
The Premier League is the most commercially successful football league in history, the self-proclaimed 'best league in the world'. But success has come at a cost, unbalancing the English game to a profound and damaging degree.
The signs are everywhere: it is estimated that 61 of the country's 92 professional clubs are loss-making; payments to agents each year regularly total more than the combined income of all 44 clubs in Leagues 1 and 2; supporters face higher prices every season, while travelling the length and breadth of the country at ever more inconvenient times to accommodate TV schedules; young English players find their route to the top blocked; and the socially beneficial community activities that clubs undertake are underfunded. Racist incidents are on the rise, grassroots facilities are in a dreadful state and failed World Cup bids have severely weakened England's standing in the global game. The Covid-19 crisis has exacerbated things across the board.
There is an alternative. In this revealing and eye-opening analysis, leading economist Mark Gregory reveals the breadth and depth of the problems facing the national game, and shows us a way to bring football home for good.
Watch the editor, Joe Pickering, pitch this title here.
Mark Gregory is EY’s Chief economist in the UK. In a career spanning over three decades he has advised governments and businesses in over 40 countries on economic policy issues, specialising in the liberalisation, regulation and commercialisation of thetelecommunications, media and technology sectors. For the last five years, he has led EY’s sports economics practice which has advised the Premier League, the ECB, international Cycling Union, Rugby World Cup on the economic issues affecting their sport, with a wide range of published reports. He is a lifelong Stoke City supporter.
02 September 2021 | Joe Pickering for Yellow Jersey | 320 pp
SUBAGENTS
ALBANIA & MACEDONIA Andrew Nurnberg Associates Sofia | Vintage [email protected]
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CHINA Big Apple China | Transworld & Vintage [email protected]
Penguin Random House China | Michael Joseph & Vintage [email protected] [email protected]
CROATIA & HUNGARY Andrew Nurnberg Associates Budapest [email protected]
CZECH REPUBLIC, SLOVAKIA & SLOVENIA Andrew Nurnberg Associates Prague | Vintage [email protected]
Kristin Olson Literary Agency | Michael Joseph & Transworld [email protected]
ESTONIA, LATVIA, LITHUANIA & UKRAINE Andrew Nurnberg Associates Baltic [email protected]
INDONESIA AND MALAYSIA Maxima | Michael Joseph [email protected]
ISRAEL Deborah Harris Agency | Vintage [email protected]
KOREA Eric Yang Agency [email protected]
JAPAN Japan-Uni [email protected]
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Tuttle-Mori [email protected]
POLAND Graal | Michael Joseph [email protected]
The Book Lab | Vintage [email protected]
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RUSSIA Andrew Nurnberg Associates Moscow | Michael Joseph & Vintage [email protected]
Synopsis | Transworld [email protected]
TAIWAN Andrew Nurnberg Associates Taiwan | Michael Joseph [email protected]
Big Apple Taiwan | Transworld & Vintage [email protected]
TURKEY Anatolia Lit | Transworld & Vintage [email protected]
ONK Agency | Michael Joseph [email protected]