While the weather may be a little dreary this week, MM authors continue to shine brightly! From award-nominations to major TV announcements and much more, we’re always blown away by their spectacular achievements.

 

 

 

We have a double-dose of exciting news for Nikki May’s upcoming debut Wahala, starting off with this stunning cover reveal. Set to be published by Doubleday/Penguin Random House in January 2022, it has also been announced this week that Wahala will be taking to the screen in a new drama-adaptation for the BBC. Produced by Elizabeth Kilgarriff  for Firebird Pictures and Mona Qureshi for the BBC, the TV adaptation has also brought on board BAFTA-nominated writer Theresa Ikoko! Theresa comments: “I can’t wait to bring Nikki May’s amazing book Wahala to the screen with BBC and Firebird. It is a fantastic, intriguing, suspenseful story of friendship, rivalry secrecy and revenge, think Big Little Lies meets Girlfriends meets Peckham! It’s also a really amazing celebration of Nigerian British culture, which I’m a proud flag-bearer of, so it’s going to be a lot of the correct jollof rice, awe-inspiring geles and breath-taking moments, we hope you love it!”

 

We’d also like to take a moment to show off the US cover for Lex Croucher’s upcoming debut novel, Reputation. Soon to be published in July 2021 by Zaffre/Bonnier Books in the UK, Reputation is also set to be published in the US and Canada by St Martins Press/Pan Macmillan in April 2022. Waterstones exclusive signed-copies are now available to pre-order, so be sure to grab your own copy here!

 

We are thrilled to share that bestselling author Teresa Driscoll has now sold over two million books. This staggering figure includes sales across all her books, genres, publishers and international sales, and we could not be any prouder of Teresa’s fantastic achievement! Teresa Driscoll is the No. 1 bestselling author of psychological suspense and women’s fiction, with her first thriller I Am Watching You hitting Kindle No. 1 in the UK, US and Australia, and selling over one million copies alone.

 

Elizabeth Macneal’s latest book, Circus of Wonders (Picador/Pan Macmillan) has gone straight onto the Sunday Times Bestseller list at No. 4 after only a partial week of sales. Set in Victorian London, the novel follows the story of Nell, a young girl who is set apart by her community because of the birthmarks that speckle her skin. When Nel is sold into Jasper Jupiter’s Circus of Wonders, she finds friendship with the other performers and a blossoming romance with Jasper’s brother Toby, however as she rises in fame, Nell soon learns that being in the spotlight comes with a heavy price…

Elizabeth’s Sunday Times bestselling debut, The Doll Factory was shortlisted for the HWA Debut Crown Award 2020 and was Picador’s bestselling title through Waterstones upon its publication . It won the Caledonia Novel Award in 2018, was a Sunday Times Top Ten Bestseller, a Radio 2 Book Club Pick, and a Radio 4 Book at Bedtime. With Circus of Wonders already creating significant buzz, we’re sure that Elizabeth’s latest novel is sure to keep on grabbing attention.

 

 

We’re also thrilled to announce that we have not one, not two, but three award announcements this week for the 2021 CWA DAGGERS Shortlist! Ben Creed’s latest novel, City of Ghosts has been shortlisted for the CWA John Creasy (New Blood) Dagger Award for ‘Best Crime Novel by a First-time Author’ AND the Gold Dagger Award for ‘Best Crime Novel’ overall – alongside some other stellar writers at the top of their game.

Additionally, C.L Taylor’s newest thriller Her Last Holiday has been shortlisted for the CWA Dagger in the Library Award, for crime-writers who are popular amongst library borrowers. Congratulations to both on your nominations!

 

 

Leah Hazarad, author of Hard Pushed: A Midwife’s Story will be joining Emma Jane Unsworth, author of After The Storm: Postnatal Depression and the Utter Weirdness of Motherhood, at the Wellcome Collective next week. Together, they’ll be discussing the biggest taboos around motherhood and mental health – and ask how we can be better prepared for the light and shade of motherhood. You will be able to comment and ask questions using YouTube Live Chat and via Slido during the event, so be sure to tune in and grab your free ticket here.

Melissa Hogenboom’s non-fiction book, The Motherhood Complex: The Story of Our Changing Lives (Piatkus/Little Brown Book Group), has garnered a wealth of praise, with Leah Hazard stating that “The Motherhood Complex does for mothers in particular what Invisible Women did for women as a whole: exposes the myriad ways in which the system is stacked against us, while celebrating the strengths and successes we achieve in spite of it all. A meticulously researched investigation, and a movingly intimate memoir.”

With the book set for release next week on May 27th, the publicity campaign has kicked off with an author piece on BBC Online, ‘The hidden load: How ‘thinking of everything’ holds mums back’ where she interrogates why and how household responsibilities tend to fall predominantly on women, especially mothers. She writes, “in fact, an increasing body of research indicates that, for household responsibilities, women perform far more cognitive and emotional labour than men. Understanding why could help explain why gender equality has not only stalled, but is going backwards, despite being more discussed than ever. And a broader understanding of this behind-the-scenes labour could help couples redistribute the work more equally – something that, while initially difficult, could play a significant role in helping mothers lighten their load.”

Check out the full article here.

 

 

Emma Stonex‘s Sunday Times bestselling novel The Lamplighters (Picador/Pan Macmillan) was back on the Times Hardback Fiction chart last week, appearing at No. 8, and was also recently included in the Telegraph’s roundup of the Best Novels of 2021, with the reviewer commenting: “the real-life disappearance of three Hebridean keepers in 1900 has already inspired an opera and a 2018 film; Stonex recasts the story to produce a fanciful solution to the mystery but her novel’s strength lies in the way it explores the existential condition of lighthouse keeping itself.”

 

Matt Dunn’s upcoming novel, Pug Actually (Mira Books/Harper Collins), was recently featured on Parade in a round-up of ‘The Best Canine-Inspired Products, Books and Movies Coming Summer 2021’. Matt’s new novel is set to be published this June, and you can pre-order your copy here:

 

Inga Vesper’s The Long Long Afternoon (Manilla Press/Bonnier Books) is continuing to grab attention in Germany; having recently been reviewed in one of Germany’s oldest newspapers Frankfurter Allgemeine, Inga’s novel has now also been featured in one of Germany’s biggest bookshop chains, Thalia May’s, Recommendation Newsletter.

 

Katherine Faulkner’s gripping thriller Greenwich Park (Raven Books/Bloomsbury), has been chosen as part of Apple’s Crime and Thriller New Voices ebook promotion, where it will be on sale at £1.99 from today until 31st March. Described by Ashley Audrain, author of The Push, as ‘’wonderfully addictive and electric” and dubbed by Harriet Walker, writer of The New Girl as ‘’brilliantly twisty and full of excellently observed – if chilling – characters”, Greenwich Park is sure to have you on the edge of your seat from start to finish. So be sure to grab your copy here.

 

IRD News:

Slovenian rights for The Maid by Nita Prose have been sold to UCILA bringing The Maid to 25 territories!

Russian rights for The Ophelia Girls by Jane Healy have sold to AST after a heated 4-way auction

Czech rights for The Accidental Diary of B.U.G. by Jen Carney have sold to Euromedia

Serbian rights to City of Ghosts by Ben Creed have been sold to Publik

 

And finally, we’re recruiting! We are currently on the lookout for an energetic, enthusiastic and highly-motivated Office Assistant to join our busy dynamic team and help with the day-to-day running of the agency’s HQ at The Factory once the doors fully re-open in June. This is an ideal chance to learn about many different aspects of working at a literary agency, and the right candidate will have opportunities to grow within the company.

Find out more about the role and how to apply here!