Strange Girls is about ‘how deeply the relationships we have as young people can shape our lives’
Dialogue Books has signed Strange Girls, a new novel by Sarvat Hasin. The publisher bought exclusive English language rights in the UK, Commonwealth (excluding Canada) and Europe. Ella Kurki at Dutton, Penguin Random House, bought North American rights from Liv Maidment at Madeleine Milburn Literary, TV & Film Agency. The US and UK will publish the novel simultaneously in March 2026.
Strange Girls, Hasin’s third novel, follows Aliyah and Ava, who arrive in England from opposite corners of the world with dreams built upon Emily Brontë, Brideshead Revisited and Richard Curtis films. Instead, in the shadow of their historic, fairytale campus, they get the sense that they don’t belong. The two form a Vita-and-Virginia-like bond, building a world full of stories that they write together. For a time, they are inseparable in their identity as ‘strange girls’. When the end of university looms, they will have to return to the world where a devotion like this seems impossible to maintain.
Years later, Aliyah has everything Ava wants – a room of her own and a publishing deal – and, worse, the thing Ava was certain neither of them had ever wanted: a sensible doctor husband. Arriving back in London for a mutual friend’s hen party, Ava is desperate to unpack the truth of what she really meant to Aliyah. Was what they had – whatever you call it – real? And what will become of the stories they tell themselves about one another?
Sarvat Hasin is from Pakistan and has a Masters in Creative Writing from the University of Oxford. Her first novel, This Wide Night, was published by Penguin India and longlisted for the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature. Her second book You Can’t Go Home Again was published in 2018 and featured in Vogue India‘s and The Hindu‘s best of the year lists. She won the Moth Writer’s Retreat Bursary in 2018 and in 2019, Mo Siewcharran Prize for The Giant Dark which came out in 2021. Her essays and poetry have appeared in publications such as Outsiders, The Mays Anthology, English PEN and Harper’s Bazaar. She lives in London and works at the Almeida Theatre.
Sarvat said: “Strange Girls is a novel about how deeply the relationships we have as young people can shape our lives: how we think, what we do, our destinies. I’m thrilled to be working with Dialogue again and knowing that Strange Girls will also have a US home is an absolute dream. I’ve long admired Dutton and the way they champion authors and the extraordinary books they bring into the world. As a writer, there’s no greater privilege than having your work and intent truly understood and I feel lucky to be working with such a brilliant team.”
Hannah Chukwu of Dialogue Books said: “Sarvat is an absolute star, and an incredibly beloved Dialogue author. We are over the moon to be publishing her next book, which is a mesmerising, beautifully-crafted work of art.”
Maidment said: “I am incredibly proud to be working with Sarvat, a writer of the most exquisite prose, intriguing dynamics, and utterly memorable characters. Strange Girls is a truly beautiful novel, and I cannot wait to see it land with readers who will adore it as much as we all do.”
