Gallic Books acquire Edward Carey’s dazzling EDITH HOLLER

EDITH HOLLER, Edward Carey’s first full-length novel since 2018’s internationally acclaimed LITTLE, has  been sold to Gallic Books. Gallic’s Managing Director, Joe Harper, acquired the UK and British Commonwealth rights to this ‘raucous, blistering, beautiful, and totally indelible’ novel from Isobel Dixon with publication planned for autumn 2024, accompanied by a ‘standout publicity campaign’ from FMcM.

EDITH HOLLER tells the story of a bright, inquisitive girl who spends her days among the boisterous denizens of the Holler Theatre, warned by her domineering father that the playhouse will literally tumble down if she should ever leave its confines. Fascinated by tales of the city she has only seen through her window, Edith decides to pen a play of her own: a stage adaptation of the legend of Mawther Meg, whose local delicacy Beetle Spread is rumoured to have been made from the blood of children.

But when her father suddenly announces his engagement to a peculiar, imposing woman named Margaret Unthank, heir to the actual Beetle Spread fortune, Edith scrambles to protect her father, the theatre, and her play – the one thing that is truly hers – from the newcomer’s sinister designs.

Edward Carey says: ‘I am so very delighted to be back with my beloved Gallic for my new novel EDITH HOLLER. Gallic have looked after my books in the most generous and ingenious ways, and I couldn't be happier to have a fourth book published by this incredible team.’

Joe Harper says: ‘We are thrilled to be once again publishing Edward Carey at Gallic Books. Teeming with a theatrical cast of characters and brought to life by Edward’s fantastical illustrations, EDITH HOLLER is a surprisingly modern fable of one young woman’s struggle to escape her family’s control, and in doing so, craft her own destiny. It is timely, brilliant, a love letter to Norwich, and will be adored by Edward’s many readers new and old.’

Isobel Dixon says: ‘It’s a joy when an author is given creative space by dedicated publishers. Edward Carey’s blazing talent and originality is in full force in this splendid book and I am so pleased that Edith and the Holler Theatre are in excellent hands with Joe Harper and the Gallic Books team.’

La Nave di Teseo have bought Italian rights, while Riverhead will publish EDITH HOLLER in the USA and Canada at the end of the month. See below for more on the pre-publication praise and Starred Publisher’s Weekly review affirming Edward Carey as a major literary talent.

About Edward Carey

Edward Carey is a writer and illustrator who was born in North Walsham, Norfolk, England, during an April snowstorm. Like his father and his grandfather, both officers in the Royal Navy, he attended Pangbourne Nautical College, where the closest he came to following his family calling was playing Captain Andy in the school’s production of Showboat. Afterwards he joined the National Youth Theatre and studied drama at Hull University.

He has written plays for the National Theatre of Romania and the Vilnius Small State Theatre, Lithuania. In England his plays and adaptations have been performed at the Young Vic Studio, the Battersea Arts Centre, and the Royal Opera House Studio. He has collaborated on a shadow puppet production of Macbeth in Malaysia, and with the Faulty Optic Theatre of Puppets.

Edward has lived in England, France, Romania, Lithuania, Germany, Ireland, Denmark, and the United States and now teaches Creative Writing at the University of Austin, Texas. He was awarded the prestigious Italian Fernanda Pivano Prize in 2016 and a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2019.

He is the author of the novels OBSERVATORY MANSIONS, ALVA & IRVA, THE IREMONGER TRILOGY (HEAP HOUSE, FOULSHAM and LUNGDON), LITTLE and THE SWALLOWED MAN, all of which he illustrated. His book B: A Year in Plagues and Pencils is a visual chronicle of a year in lockdown and has been published in different editions in the UK, America and Italy. LITTLE has been acclaimed around the world and has sold over 100,000 copies in twenty countries.

Praise for EDITH HOLLER

‘Carey draws on fairy tales and Shakespeare for a dazzling bildungsroman… [EDITH HOLLER] affirms the author’s standing as a major literary talent.’ – Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

‘EDITH HOLLER is that rarest thing, a newly written tale that feels as though it's been discovered behind the stacked stone walls of an abandoned estate. It’s eldritch, raucous, blistering, beautiful, and totally indelible.’ – Maria Dahvana Headley, New York Times bestselling author of THE MERE WIFE

‘A raucous romp through the world of early 20th-century theater, with its barrels of fake blood and donkeys living in the bowels of the understage to provide the muscle for scene changes. In ways both witty and dark, the novel brilliantly probes the distinction between drama and real life, audience and performer, actor and character. And the whimsical illustrations, all drawn by Carey himself, are the perfect accompaniment to a story about an art form as visual as it is verbal. A wonderfully strange and quirky tale about the power of penning and performing tales.’ – Kirkus Reviews

‘Edward Carey is an extraordinary craftsman, and EDITH HOLLER is a masterpiece. Carey’s prose teems with wonderfully twisted humour and play, breathing life into the spirits that haunt its gothic framework. It is that special novel that makes you wonder why there aren’t more like it. The answer, of course, is that there is just one Edward Carey. EDITH HOLLER is singular – a dark delight from beginning to end.’ – Erika Swyler, bestselling author of THE BOOK OF SPECULATION and LIGHT FROM OTHER STARS

‘Brilliant and shiver-inducing, EDITH HOLLER is a delightfully macabre achievement, equal parts Charles Dickens and Sweeney Todd. Through Edith’s keen eyes we come to know her family theatre and its many denizens – each a masterpiece of oddity – as well as the frightening newcomer who threatens to topple her very world. A bravura performance.’ – Helene Wecker, New York Times bestselling author of THE GOLEM AND THE JINNI

Visit Edward’s website
Follow Edward on X (previously Twitter) and Instagram

Edward Carey’s PLAGUES AND PENCILS: A Year in Pandemic Sketches published by University of Texas Press

Edward Carey’s PLAGUES AND PENCILS: A YEAR IN PANDEMIC SKETCHES is published in North America by the University of Texas Press today. Casey Kittrell, Senior Acquisitions Manager at University of Texas Press, bought North American rights from Isobel Dixon of Blake Friedmann. The collection of Carey’s beautiful, haunting lockdown drawings includes a foreword by Max Porter and was published in the UK by Gallic Books as B: A YEAR IN PLAGUES AND PENCILS.

Edward will be in conversation with Austin Kleon and signing copies of PLAGUES AND PENCILS at a launch event at BookPeople in Austin at 7 p.m. on Wednesday 14 September. More details here.

In March 2020, as lockdowns were imposed around the world, author and illustrator Edward Carey raced home to Austin, Texas. The next day, he published on social media a sketch of “A Very Determined Young Man.” The day after, he posted another drawing. One year and one hundred and fifty Tombow B pencil stubs later, he was still drawing.

Carey’s pencil fills the page with the marvellous and intriguing, picturing people, characters, animals, monsters, and his favourite bird to draw, the grackle. He reaches into history and fiction to escape grim reality through flights of vivid imagination – until events demand the drawings “look straight on.”

Breonna Taylor, the Brontë sisters, John Lewis, King Lear, and even the portraits that mark the progress of the year for the Very Determined Young Man combine into a remarkable document of the pandemic and its politics. For Carey, though, trapped inside a home he loves, these portraits are something more, a way to chart time, an artist’s way of creating connection in isolation.

Casey says: ‘We’re delighted to be publishing Edward Carey’s latest work, and I’m personally delighted to be working with someone whose art I’ve admired for years. I would buy it just for the grackles, but, really, it's a gift for anyone, especially creative folks, who felt the need to do something, to somehow mark the time and resist the torpor, of the pandemic.’

Edward Carey says: ‘I'm thrilled that the University of Texas Press, whose books I've loved and cherished for years, will publish this book of pandemic drawings. I sat in a small corner of Texas during the pandemic and drew every day to communicate, to travel, to mourn, to celebrate and to keep busy. It's so fitting that UT press is giving this book a home in America – its starting point is Texas and it contains various grackles. I'm so delighted to be working with them again.’

Isobel Dixon says: ‘With great determination, artistry, empathy and generosity, Edward gave his many followers a great gift during lockdown. So many brilliant daily images – thought-provoking, rousing, delightful, a rich range that endures far beyond the instant online moment. I’m so happy that Casey Kittrell and the University of Texas Press have joined in to spread the word – and image – further afield. All power to publisher, artist and (B) pencil, and here’s to many more happy readers.’

Edward’s previous book, THE SWALLOWED MAN, was published in the UK by Gallic Books in November 2020, and in the US by Riverhead in January 2021. Edward is completing his next novel, EDITH HOLLER, which will be published by Riverhead in the US.


See more about Edward as an illustrator here.

Praise for B: A YEAR IN PLAGUES AND PENCILS

‘B is for Black, the kind of pencil [Edward Carey] … used to draw and endite this charming lockdown memoir. Perfect gift for doodlers and illustrators – one day RBG, the next a walrus – made me want to take up drawing again!’ – Margaret Atwood

‘There is so much sharp grace and so much generosity in Carey's art; I loved this book, for its beauty, and for its tenacity of heart.’ – Katherine Rundell

‘Once again Edward Carey has produced a remarkable book, this time blend of words and drawings about both outrage and consolation. Noted mask wearers, shut-ins and plague witnesses rub shoulders with monsters mythical and all too real. Those house arrested days when we mourned together, feared together, loved together as planet are recorded. Birds and writers gather. Injustices howl and graves multiply. And still human beings add beauty to reality – and hope. As Carey writes ‘’There’s magic in the ordinary.’’ The best of us uncover it and pass it on. This book contains magic.’ – A.L. Kennedy

‘Edward Carey probably didn't know what he was getting himself into when he committed to tweeting a daily lockdown drawing, but the results are the best thing by far to come out of a horrible year. Whether a startled moggy or a panda-eyed Hamlet, each drawing is stamped with Carey's unique style and off-kilter sensibility. B: A YEAR IN PLAGUES AND PENCILS is a constant delight.’ – Graeme Macrae Burnet

‘These characterful images are bound together here with words of wistfulness and modest hope.’ – Hephzibah Anderson, The Observer

 

Praise for Edward Carey

‘If this were music, Carey would be Eric Satie. If it were film, he would be Tim Burton.’ – Newsday

‘All of Edward Carey's work is profound and delightful.’ – Max Porter

‘A novel that takes the shape of a constellation of memories recalled amid idle waiting… Carey is a playful writer whose charming sentences are works of careful craftsmanship… his isn’t the “Pinocchio” of your childhood. Instead, Carey has written something more cerebral, an existential fairy tale for adults told by an old artist considering the tragedy of life.’ — Eric Nguyen, The Washington Post

‘Edward Carey has an imagination of tremendous range and power. He transforms the familiar stuff of life in shapes utterly strange and marvellous.’ – Patrick McGrath

‘Edward Carey, with OBSERVATORY MANSIONS] proves the potential brilliance of the novel form.’ — John Fowles

‘Carey writes with such persuasive authority, and we are inclined to believe him …The emphasis on detail in Carey’s sweetly detached, exact prose has forebears in the illuminated dreams of Borges and Calvino and Georges Perec.’ — Carey Harrison, The New York Times Review of Books

'Wonderfully weird... Carey reproduces, or invents... with relentless energy.' – Herald Scotland

‘Edward Carey is bursting with imagination and madness.’ — Lire

About Edward Carey:

Photo: Elizabeth McCracken

Edward Carey is a writer and illustrator who was born in North Walsham, Norfolk, England, during an April snowstorm. Like his father and his grandfather, both officers in the Royal Navy, he attended Pangbourne Nautical College, where the closest he came to following his family calling was playing Captain Andy in the school’s production of Showboat. Afterwards he joined the National Youth Theatre and studied drama at Hull University. He has written plays for the National Theatre of Romania and the Vilnius Small State Theatre, Lithuania. In England his plays and adaptations have been performed at the Young Vic Studio, the Battersea Arts Centre, and the Royal Opera House Studio. He has collaborated on a shadow puppet production of Macbeth in Malaysia, and with the Faulty Optic Theatre of Puppets.

He is the author of the novels OBSERVATORY MANSIONS, THE IREMONGER TRILOGY, ALVA & IRVA, THE SWALLOWED MAN and LITTLE, all of which he illustrated. He always draws the characters he writes about, but often the illustrations contradict the writing and vice versa and getting both to agree with each other takes him far too long.

He has lived in England, France, Romania, Lithuania, Germany, Ireland, Denmark, and the United States. He currently teaches creative writing at the University of Texas in Austin, Texas, which is not near the sea.

Visit Edward Carey's website here
Follow Edward Carey on Twitter here 


BFLA BEST OF 2020 AND PICKS FOR 2021

It has been a thrill to see so many of our authors featured in lots of Best of 2020 lists, and others highlighted as hotly anticipated reads for 2021. To celebrate these tremendous achievements, we have compiled a list of the selections our authors were included in, along with the praise they received.

In prize news this year already, Monique Roffey has won the Costa Novel Prize and the overall Costa Book of the Year Award, as well as being longlisted for the Republic of Consciousness Prize. Elsewhere three of our authors have been shortlisted for the 2021 Romantic Novelists Association (RNA) Romantic Novel Awards: SECRETS OF THE LAVENDER GIRLS by Kate Thompson has been shortlisted for The Romantic Saga Award, THE COMING OF THE WOLF by Elizabeth Chadwick has been shortlisted for The Goldsboro Books Historical Novel Award, and CHRISTMAS WISHES by Sue Moorcroft has been shortlisted for The Sapere Books Popular Romantic Fiction Award. Joseph O’Connor’s SHADOWPLAY has been longlisted for the Dublin Literary Award and on the Dylan Thomas Prize long list, Dima Alzayat has been picked for her debut short story collection, ALLIGATOR AND OTHER STORIES, and Romalyn Ante for her poetry collection, ANTIEMETIC FOR HOMESICKNESS.

We’re delighted that Peter James was Number 35 on The Bookseller’s overall 2020 Author Top 50, with lots of anticipation for ITV’s spring broadcast of GRACE, starring John Simm and Richie Campbell, adapted from Peter James’s first two Roy Grace bestsellers, DEAD SIMPLE and LOOKING GOOD DEAD.

THE BEST BOOKS OF 2020

ALLIGATOR & OTHER STORIES by Dima Alzayat

‘ALLIGATOR contains several stories of breath-taking power, worth noting since the title story alone, based on the true story of a Syrian man lynched in Florida in 1929, is worth the price of several volumes. Born in Syria, raised in the United States, and now residing in the United Kingdom, Alzayat “may be the first person to realize that our history is our own black mirror,” wrote a bookseller. Start reading now and you can say you were an early fan, because Dima Alzayat combines superb writing with razor-sharp imagination and focuses on social injustice, racial violence, and global immigration.’ — LitHub, The Best Books of 2020 you might have missed

 

THE YOUNG TEAM by Graeme Armstrong

‘Two semi-autobiographical Scottish debuts from Picador showcased essential new voices: Douglas Stuart took the Booker prize for his moving, devastating SHUGGIE BAIN the tale of a boy’s desperate love for his alcoholic mother in the deprived, post-industrial 80s; while Graeme Armstrong’s THE YOUNG TEAM, set among teenage gangs in Lanarkshire, updated TRAINSPOTTING for a new generation.’ — The Guardian, Best Fiction of 2020

‘Set in the schemes of Airdrie, THE YOUNG TEAM by Graeme Armstrong had scenes that made me wince and smirk at their North Lanarkshire familiarity.’ — The Scotsman, Laura Waddell’s year in books

 

LOVE IN COLOUR by Bolu Babalola

‘The most iconic love stories of myth and folklore from West Africa to Ancient Greece, vibrantly reimagined in bold, striking prose; LOVE IN COLOUR beautifully illustrates the timelessness of classic storytelling.’ — Waterstones, Best Books of 2020 - Debuts

‘Bolu Babalola “decolonizes love” in this stunning retelling of ancient love stories. The alluring collection affirms that love is a universal experience that takes varying forms in different cultures, from Mesopotamia to Senegal to Lesotho.’ – Brittlepaper.com, 50 Notable Books of 2020

‘Our busiest period coincided with this year’s demand for a renewed focus on Black Lives. While it’s good that so many people started reading about the reality of racism, it’s important to remember that joy and love are also part of the black experience. LOVE IN COLOUR by Bolu Babalola retells mythical love stories from around the world and serves as a reminder of this.’  – The Observer, Pages of Hackney, The best books of 2020, chosen by Booksellers

 

THE ENGLISHMAN by David Gilman

‘When Raglan, a former soldier in the French Foreign Legion, is recruited by M16 for an off-the-books operation, he is pitched into a fast-paced, dangerous journey through organised crime in London and Russia that ends in a Siberian prison camp. The narrative goes at breakneck speed but between the action Gilman slowly and deftly unveils Raglan’s back-story.’ — Financial Times, Best Books of the Year 2020

‘Klaxon alert! Discover full-on heart-pounding action, plus smart, sharp writing in this absolute reading feast of a book . . . This is the first in what promises to be a smash-hit spy thriller series and I already can’t wait for the next book . . . His words build a vivid picture, this world feels authentic and I read with full confidence. I was so involved in the unfolding story that my thoughts didn’t skim backwards or forwards, I purely existed in each moment as it hit. And boy, each moment lands with ferocious intensity. Shockwaves of action expanded and the storyline tripped me with unexpected developments. Even though I had read the prologue, the ending still came with a whammy. LoveReading Book of the Month - tick, LoveReading Star Book – tick, one of my personal Picks of the Month – tick! THE ENGLISHMAN comes with a tremendous thumbs up from me, more please!’ – LoveReading, Our favourite Books of 2020

 

I FOLLOW YOU by Peter James

‘A chilling standalone thriller from the bestselling king of crime, I FOLLOW YOU sees a respectable married doctor descend into an unhealthy obsession for a woman he has never been able to forget.’ —  Waterstones, The Best Books of 2020: Crime & Thrillers      

 

SWIMMING IN THE DARK by Tomasz Jedrowski

‘Remember the feeling of the last day of summer camp? Nostalgia for something you haven’t quite lost yet? Tomasz Jedrowski captures that wistfulness in his debut novel, set in 1980s communist Poland. Two young men meet and fall in love. One chafes against the restrictions of society; the other finds ways to thrive within the confines of the regime. Jedrowski’s writing reminds us that even in the face of oppression, life continues. As he told me, “People still fall in love. People still go skinny-dipping. People still smoke cigarettes. And people still dream.”’ – Ari Shapiro, NPR Books,  Books of the Year 2020

‘Tomasz Jedrowski’s SWIMMING IN THE DARK is captivating on the twin challenge of being both gay and liberal in communist Poland. An enchanting story of coming out and surviving, just, in a cold climate.’ –  Andrew Adonis, Daily Express, Books of the Year 2020

‘Poland, 1980. Anxious, disillusioned Ludwik Glowacki, soon to graduate university, has been sent along with the rest of his class to an agricultural camp. Here he meets Janusz - and together, they spend a dreamlike summer swimming in secluded lakes, reading forbidden books – and falling in love. This book is a masterpiece of fiction and made me smile and cry! Beautiful!’ – Gay’s The Word, Books of the Year 2020

 

GLOSSY by Nina-Sophia Miralles

‘The untold story of Vogue, told through the lens of its editors, in GLOSSY journalist Nina-Sophia Miralles asks what – and most importantly who – made the fashion magazine such an enduring success? It’s a story of passion and power, dizzying fortune and out-of-this-world fashion, of ingenuity and opportunism, frivolity and malice. Today, 125 years later, Vogue spans 22 countries, has an international print readership upwards of 12 million and nets over 67 million monthly online users. It is not just a fashion magazine, it is the establishment.’ – Forbes, Holiday Gift Guide 2020: The Best British Stocking Stuffers

 

CHRISTMAS WISHES by Sue Moorcroft

‘Sometimes fate has a way of keeping people who should be together, apart.

Enter Hannah and Nico, two childhood friends. Having lost her shop in Stockholm, a distraught Hannah is forced to move back to the little village of Middledip, only to discover Nico is there too. Will the two of them find romance under the falling snow or will they be iced out of each other’s lives? Another great read from Moorcroft, who went to Stockholm and tested out the culinary treats… all in the name of authenticity.’ — besteverchristmas.co.uk, Top Cosy Christmas Stocking Reads

 

SHADOWPLAY by Joseph O’Connor

‘O’Connor’s ingenious novel is based on the life of Bram Stoker, author of DRACULA and his relationship with Henry Irving, renowned actor and impresario. Barry McGovern gives brilliant renditions of the Irishman Stoker and of Henry Irving, whose voice here is a thespian thunder. Anna Chancellor pipes up on occasion as the warm voice of Ellen Terry, Stoker’s friend and Irving’s leading lady’. — The Washington Post, Best Audiobooks of 2020

‘Finally, a paperback, winner of last year's Irish Book Awards Novel of the Year, which reimagines the meeting of three extraordinary people, Bram Stoker, Henry Irving and Ellen Terry. Reading this may even prompt me to attempt DRACULA for the first time too.’ — BookBrunch, What we’d like to read - Christmas 2020

 

BOBBY MARCH WILL LIVE FOREVER by Alan Parks

‘Two girls go missing in Harry McCoy’s third outing (after BLOODY JANUARY and FEBRUARY’S SON). The detective, world-weary at 30, also has to investigate the death of a druggy guitar genius whose global fame was fading. Glasgow, in the summer of 1973, is as fascinating and dangerous as Harry’s best pal, gangster Stevie Cooper. Alan Parks has clearly studied the masters of tartan noir, but has his own distinctive voice.’ – The Times, Best Crime Books of the Year 2020

 

THE MERMAID OF BLACK CONCH by Monique Roffey

‘This is Monique Roffey’s sixth novel and seventh book, and each one is markedly different from the other. She is the most adventurous of writers and THE MERMAID OF BLACK CONCH does not disappoint. Set in 1976 on the imaginary Caribbean island of Black Conch, this is a strange, haunting, original and memorable novel about Aycayia, a mermaid from deep history who is entrapped and taken out of the sea. At the mercy of American tourists, she is saved by a kindly fisherman who gives her shelter. Slowly, she starts to lose her tail and shed her scales and stands to metamorphose back into the indigenous Indian woman she once was, persecuted by other women because of her beauty. This is a novel packed with layers of meaning around womanhood, alienation, masculinity, toxic attitudes towards women, and inter-female rivalry, as well as love, compassion and the search for home.’ – Bernardine Evaristo, Waterstones, Bernardine Evaristo’s Favourite Reads of 2020

‘THE MERMAID OF BLACK CONCH by Monique Roffey (Peepal Tree) Just in time for my list the Costa shortlists are announced, which brings this book to my attention. A writer from Trinidad (along with another shortlisted author, Ingrid Persaud, whose LOVE AFTER LOVE I highly recommend), I much enjoyed her earlier ARCHIPELAGO, and so look forward to reading this.’ – Jo Henry, BookBrunch, What we’d like to read - Christmas 2020

‘Blending myth and history, magic and reality, this multi-voiced, multi-textured novel (it features journal excerpts and verse) tells a rich tale of love, jealousy and freedom, exposing racism, oppression and gender inequalities through its otherworldly cloak.’ – LoveReading, Our favourite Books of 2020

 

THE CATALOGUE OF SHIPWRECKED BOOKS by Edward Wilson-Lee

‘A majestic tour de force that explores the mind of a Renaissance great against the flow of Empire. Wilson-Lee presents a fitting tribute to the man behind the legend, impeccably researched, stunningly woven together and as epic in delivery as the West’s most famous explorer.’ — Wreckwatch Magazine, Wreckwatch Magazine Book of 2020

 

HIGHLY ANTICIPATED BOOKS IN 2021

LOVE IN COLOUR by Bolu Babalola (US Edition)

A Goodreads ‘2021’s Hottest Romances’ pick

‘This collection of stories is a pure, joyous celebration of love, folklore, and the power of human connection in an often incomprehensible world. Drawing from mythology from West Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and more, Babolola crafts tales of romance that shift the perspectives and recontextualize well-trod tropes, offering an insightful, thoroughly modern take on what it means to feel guided by fate, captive to something bigger than yourself — to love.’ –Refinery29

‘A Nigerian goddess who longs to be seen, a young businesswoman who makes leaps in her love life, an influential Ghanaian spokeswoman who must decide if she will be true to her heart—these are just some of the characters you’re set to encounter in Babalola’s debut short story collection. Centering the folktales of West Africa, Babalola retells some of the most enduring mythologies with a refreshing voice. And though she also draws on Greek myths and legends of the Middle East, Babalola is keen to decolonize tropes inherent to these stories. This book is a celebration of love—its challenges and its sweet promise.’  – Lit Hub, Rasheed Saka, Lit Hub’s Most Anticipated Books of 2021

‘After earning acclaim following its UK release in summer 2020, Bolu Babalola's debut is finally hitting the states. In this short story collection, the self-proclaimed “romcomoisseur” retells love stories from around the world. Mythology, folktales, and history from West Africa, Greece, and the Middle East serve as inspiration for her diverse romantic tales that add a new perspective to the genre's tropes.’ – Oprah Magazine, 27 Most Anticipated Romance Novels to Renew Your Faith in Love In 2021

‘I’m a big fan of British journalist Bolu Babalola (if you’re unfamiliar, her Vulture essay “The Innate Black Britishness of I May Destroy You” is the perfect example of her shrewd cultural criticism). Her fiction debut, a collection of reimagined love stories from history and myth, sounds fantastic: As Babalola herself describes it, it’s “a step towards decolonizing tropes of love.”’ —A.R., Buzzfeed

 

THE SWALLOWED MAN by Edward Carey

An AV Club ‘5 New Books to Read in January’ pick

‘Edward Carey and Elizabeth McCracken are Austin literary royalty, so it’s exciting that both have a new book out this year. Carey’s latest is a retelling of Pinocchio with a vast well of sympathy for the lying puppet’s lonesome and troubled creator, who spends much of THE SWALLOWED MAN contemplating his sins while in the belly of a whale. THE SWALLOWED MAN also has plenty of Carey’s trademark illustrations!’  – Molly Odintz, Lit Hub, Lit Hub’s Most Anticipated Books of 2021

‘From the acclaimed author of LITTLE comes this beautiful and haunting imagining of the years Geppetto spends within the belly of a sea beast. Drawing upon the Pinocchio story while creating something entirely his own, Carey tells an unforgettable tale of fatherly love and loss, pride and regret, and of the sustaining power of art and imagination.’ – Tor.com, All the New Horror and Genre-Bending Books Arriving in January

 

CASE STUDY by Graeme Macrae Burnet

‘From the Booker-shortlisted author of HIS BLOODY PROJECT, a metafictional investigation into analysis and responsibility focused on a controversial 60s psychotherapist.’ – 2021 in Books: what to look forward to this year.’  – The Observer 

‘Graeme Macrae Burnet is a novelist who likes playing around with form. CASE STUDY (Saraband, October) comprises a number of notebooks sent to the author in 2020 concerning psychotherapist Arthur Collins Braithwaite, a 1960s contemporary of RD Laing. The notebooks are from a woman who is convinced Braithwaite is responsible for her sister’s death.’ – The Herald, 21 Books for 2021: Nick Major previews the year’s most exciting releases

 

THE LAST THING TO BURN by Will Dean

A Her Magazine ‘85 Brilliant Books That We Can't Wait to Curl Up with in 2021’ pick

A Novel Suspects ‘30 Thrilling Books to Look Out for This Year’

A Financial Times pick for ‘Best New Crime Fiction’

‘Set on a remote farm and filled with lingering dread, The Last Thing to Burn is a chilling depiction of an obsessively controlling relationship driven to its breaking point.’ – Waterstones, Books to Look Forward to in 2021

‘Her husband calls her Jane. That is not her name. She lives in a small farm cottage, surrounded by vast, open fields. Everywhere she looks, there is space. But she is trapped. No one knows how she got to the UK: no one knows she is there. Visitors rarely come to the farm; if they do, she is never seen. Her husband records her every movement during the day. If he doesn't like what he sees, she is punished. For a long time, escape seemed impossible. But now, something has changed. She has a reason to live and a reason to fight. Now, she is watching him, and waiting.’  – Grazia, The 30 Best Books We're Looking Forward to Reading in 2021

‘After three excellent novels featuring the deaf reporter Tuva Moodyson — DARK PINES (2018), RED SNOW (2019), BLACK RIVER (2020) — Will Dean has changed publishers and direction. This is a short, sharp shocker, burning with righteous anger, intended to highlight the evils of human trafficking.’ — Mark Sanderson, The Times, The Best Crime Fiction for January 2021

‘A bleak but brilliantly handled tale of oppression, torture and enslavement that will have you turning the pages late into the night.’ – inews, 75 of the best books for 2021

‘After the dramatic Swedish backdrops of his Tuva Moodyson trilogy, Will Dean switches to a farm in Lincolnshire’s fens in THE LAST THING TO BURN, a two-hander that has been misleadingly compared to Room. The narrator, the Vietnamese migrant Thanh Dao, is the tortured captive of her husband, Lenn, who burns her few possessions if her cooking and cleaning are below standard or she tries to escape. Dean laudably combines gaslighting and modern slavery in this set-up, but it makes for a necessarily repetitive and relentlessly grim read: as if Beckett had tackled the Bluebeard story, although without his merciful moments of poetry and humour.’ –  The Sunday Times, Best Thrillers for January 2021

‘The atmosphere is vivid, the characters are brilliantly drawn — especially Len, who shows surprising human touches despite his almost unconscious monstrousness. If it feels uncomfortable to be deriving entertainment from such a terrible situation, this story at least draws attention to a plight that is rooted in all-too-real-life tragedies. Claustrophobic, harrowing but also inspiring, this book is not for the faint-hearted. It’s hard to read, and hard to put down’ — News Chain, 5 new books to read this week

 

THE DREAM WEAVERS by Barbara Erskine

A Love Reading ‘Exciting New Books on the Horizon’ pick

 

LEFT YOU DEAD by Peter James

A Waterstones ‘The Best Fiction Books to Look Forward to in 2021’ pick

 

Grace (Peter James TV)

A Tatler ‘The Best TV Dramas to Look Forward to This Year’ pick

An inews ‘The Best TV Coming in 2021’ pick

A Mirror ‘Best New TV Shows 2021’ pick

A Telegraph ‘10 New TV Shows to Look Forward to in 2021’ pick

A Sunday Express ‘TV series to Watch in 2021’ pick

A Radio Times ‘Most Anticipated TV Dramas Coming in 2021’ pick

A BBC ‘TV in 2021’ pick

‘The crime writer has been referred to as the “king of police procedural”, thanks to his rigid commitment to authenticity. It is said James routinely accompanies detectives and police officers while they work as research for his 16-part franchise, which focuses on the heady antics of Detective Superintendent Roy Grace. With jolly titles like WANT YOU DEAD, NEED YOU DEAD and DEAD SIMPLE, there’s enough material to see you through until Covid-23 at the very least. From the TV writer Russell Lewis (Endeavour), ITV’s upcoming adaptation stars John Simm as Grace.’ – The Sunday Times

ARE WE HAVING FUN YET? by Lucy Mangan

‘The Guardian journalist’s first novel is a comedy of domestic life, inspired by EM Delafield’s classic DIARY OF A PROVINCIAL LADY.’ –The Observer, 2021 in Books: what to look forward to this year

 

WHEN THEY FIND HER by Lia Middleton

‘WHEN THEY FIND is a haunting, emotional and nerve-shredding debut about a desperate mother, a tragic accident and a terrible lie that spirals out of control. Penned by a barrister specialising in crime and prison law, this is a sharp, sophisticated and intense thriller combining a dark plot with white-knuckle pace – and we couldn’t put it down.’ – Dead Good Books, Debut crime novels to watch out for 2021

 

GLOSSY by Nina-Sophia Miralles

‘Miralles, the founder of Londnr magazine, turns her hand to social history with this hugely entertaining peek behind the pages of Vogue.’ – inews, 75 of the best books for 2021

 

THE WOMEN WHO RAN AWAY by Sheila O’Flanagan

‘THE WOMEN WHO RAN AWAY by Sheila O’Flanagan (Headline) is a road-trip novel that begins in Ireland but covers France from north to south and Spain as well, as two women accidentally thrown together learn the importance of inter-generational friendship, and of coping with their personal upheavals back in the oul’ sod.’ – The Anglo-Celt, Looking for reasons to be cheerful in a year like no other

 

SHIVER by Allie Reynolds

An Irish Independent ‘New Voices and Stories Help Balance the Books’ pick

A Her Magazine ‘85 Brilliant Books That We Can't Wait to Curl Up with in 2021’ pick

A New York Post ‘These Three New Thrillers Set in Ski Resorts will Chill You to the Bone’ pick

The Sydney Morning Herald ‘Most Anticipated Books of 2021’ pick

A News Chain ‘Books Set to Create Buzz in 2021’ pick

An Independent ‘Books to Look Out For in 2021’ pick

An Echo Live ‘Experts offer their predictions on what’s going to be hot in the world of books 2021’ pick 

‘A promising debut with a dramatic setting.’ – The Sunday Times, Best Crime Novels for January 2021

‘Buckle up – this chilling thriller will have you feeling like you’re hurtling down a black run. Milla, a former snowboarder, is invited to a reunion in the French Alps. The friends haven’t seen each other for 10 years since the disappearance of the beautiful Saskia. With a broken ski lift, a blizzard setting in and a group turning on each other, secrets are about to emerge – and it isn’t pretty. An unforgettable debut.’ – Woman & Home, Best Books 2021: The reads to look out for this year

‘Written by debut author and former British top ten freestyle snowboarder, Allie Reynolds SHIVER is set in the glitteringly beautiful yet deadly French Alps. In the world of high stakes, professional snowboarding, five friends and former athletes reunite with sinister consequences.’ – Grazia,

 The 30 books We're Looking Forward to Reading in 2021

‘When Milla is invited to a reunion in the French Alps resort that saw the peak of her snowboarding career, she drops everything to go. …. In a deserted lodge high up a mountain, the secrets of the past are about to come to light.’ – Shemazing.net, The 10 best books you need to add to your reading list this winter

‘Locked-room mystery set against a snowy, Alpine backdrop, Allie Reynold’s SHIVER centers on five friends who come together to catch up after spending the last years apart. Once they arrive, however, they quickly come to realise that they’re stranded in the cold. Someone wants them to remember a sixth friend, but who is it and – after all this time – why?’  – Bustle, The Most Anticipated Books of January 2021

‘Mind games, a hyper-competitive cast of characters and a dangerous natural environment make SHIVER a seriously suspenseful mystery, with tension that builds and builds. Prepare to be chilled!’ –  Dead Good Books, Debut crime novels to watch out for 2021

‘In the grand tradition of Agatha Christie, Allie Reynolds's debut SHIVER is a locked-room mystery. The story begins with five friends meeting for a reunion, but things turn deadly when it becomes clear someone arranged for them to be stranded during a snowstorm.’ – Popsugar, 10 Must-Read New Thriller and Mystery Books Coming Out This January

A collection of Edward Carey’s ‘lockdown drawings’ acquired by Gallic Books

Emily Boyce, Editor at Gallic Books, has bought UK, Europe and Commonwealth rights (ex-Canada) to a collection of Edward Carey’s ‘lockdown drawings’ from Isobel Dixon of Blake Friedmann.

Entitled B: A YEAR IN PLAGUES AND PENCILS after Carey’s favourite grade of pencil, the book will bring together line drawings Carey has produced and posted on social media every day since the first lockdown in March 2020 from his home in Austin, Texas, along with essays reflecting on the project as it progressed. It will include a foreword by Max Porter, who says Edward has, with his lockdown drawings, ‘singlehandedly made Twitter a better place’.

The drawings include figures involved in the pandemic itself – such as Anthony Fauci and Margaret Keenan, the first person to receive the Pfizer vaccine outside of trials – and reactions to the other tumultuous events of 2020, including the killing of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement, and the American election.

Birthdays and deaths of prominent figures are marked, with captions including quotations which resonate with the world we are living in now. Other drawings are more intimate – requests from friends or family, works of Carey’s vivid imagination, and images that conjure memories and dreams of the world beyond the four walls of Carey’s family home.

The book will be published in B format hardback in November 2021 and will be accompanied by an exhibition of the drawings at Belgravia Books, the bookshop of Gallic Books.

Edward Carey said: ‘I am so thrilled that Gallic will publish this whole year's worth of quarantine drawings. It's very typical of the wonderful and ever inventive Gallic to come up with this idea and I'm so delighted that this journal in pencil will be a book. I am hoping, most of all, that by November, it will all be over and we can all see each other again.’ 

Emily Boyce said: ‘When we signed Edward’s previous book, THE SWALLOWED MAN, none of us could have imagined how prescient the story of Pinocchio’s father Geppetto, making art to save his mind while trapped inside a giant sea creature, would prove to be. Each of us trapped “inside the whale” has had to find ways to keep going, to find connection and stave off isolation and despair – for Edward, this came through his pencil. His lockdown project is a magnificent achievement, reflecting both personal and collective experience, finding beauty amid the horror of these extraordinary times.’

Isobel Dixon said: ‘Edward Carey’s artistry – and empathy – has never been more apt and immediate than in his commitment to making and sharing a drawing a day in what became a very long time of crisis. An inspired and truly social gift, daily, on social media, now to be shared further afield by Gallic Books. All power to publisher, artist and (B) pencil.’

Edward’s previous book, THE SWALLOWED MAN, was published in the UK by Gallic Books in November 2020, and in the US by Riverhead in January 2021.

 

Praise for Edward Carey

‘If this were music, Carey would be Eric Satie. If it were film, he would be Tim Burton.’ – Newsday

‘All of Edward Carey's work is profound and delightful.’ – Max Porter

‘Edward Carey, a brilliant love child of the kingdom of letters.’ – Immédiatement

‘Carey, at every step, raises the stakes; he isn't interested in just portraying eccentric characters in an eccentric setting. He wants nothing less than Mastery — of technique, of characterization, of setting, of memory, of resonance.’ – Jeff Vandermeer

‘Edward Carey has an imagination of tremendous range and power. He transforms the familiar stuff of life in shapes utterly strange and marvellous.’ – Patrick McGrath

‘Edward Carey, with OBSERVATORY MANSIONS proves the potential brilliance of the novel form.’ — John Fowles

‘Edward Carey is the Mervyn Peake of our times (with a stronger sense of story too).’ – Gregory Norminton

‘Edward Carey is an enormously talented writer’ – Publishers Weekly

‘Edward Carey is one of the strangest writers we are privileged to have in this country. There are echoes in his work of other great idiosyncratics from Angela Carter to Russell Hoban, but he supersedes even them in the downright oddity of his mind.’ — Observer

‘If you’ve forgotten why you’d even read a novel, Edward Carey is here to set you straight.’ — Alexander Chee, author of THE QUEEN OF THE NIGHT

‘Carey writes with such persuasive authority, and we are inclined to believe him …The emphasis on detail in Carey’s sweetly detached, exact prose has forebears in the illuminated dreams of Borges and Calvino and Georges Perec.’ — Carey Harrison, The New York Times Review of Books

'Wonderfully weird... Carey reproduces, or invents... with relentless energy.' – The Herald Scotland

Praise for THE SWALLOWED MAN

‘Geppetto, carver of naughty Pinocchio, keeps a haunting journal of his years inside the whale… Bizarre, moving, intensely odd’ – @MargaretAtwood

‘Art objects live in the belly of this marvellous novel, images swallowed by text, sustained by a sublime and loving imagination. Like all of Edward Carey's work THE SWALLOWED MAN is profound and delightful. It is a strange and tender parable of two maddening obsessions; parenting and art-making.’ —   Max Porter

‘THE SWALLOWED MAN is a beautiful and dark meditation on fatherhood, mercy, redemption and the alchemy of isolation. Strange, moving and musical, it’s a delight.’ — A.L. Kennedy

‘THE SWALLOWED MAN takes as its inspiration the moment in Carlo Collodi’s 1883 Pinocchio story when Geppetto, the carver of the wooden boy, sets out to find his fugitive offspring and winds up in the stomach of an enormous sea beast. … Geppetto’s voice, full of wistful overemphasis and bewildered revelation, is absorbing as he takes in the oddity of his situation. And the book, sentence by sentence, offers much in which to luxuriate.’ – Matthew Adams, The Sunday Times

‘Strange and lovely’ – Rhik Samadder

‘THE SWALLOWED MAN is like no other book that I’ve been reading for a long time. That’s enough advice. The fact that it is written with fluid economy, poetic clarity, and artistic boldness adds to that. What a high point with so many lows to finish this year.’ – Helena Sutan, Brinkwire

‘Edward Carey’s latest novel brings a similarly fabulist perspective to the Italian legend of Pinocchio. The author makes clear Pinocchio’s connection to concerns both universal and contemporary, in a story that’s as much about creation and fatherhood as it is about a conscious marionette who wishes that he was a real boy. . . Carey proves once again how there is a magic in that archetypal familiarity of the perennial fairy tale.’ — Most Anticipated: The Great Second-Half 2020 Book Preview, The Millions

‘A deeply insightful meditation on guilt and hindsight, THE SWALLOWED MAN is a must-read for pandemic-bound parents in need of a respite—as well as a reminder of how love often challenges us. Says Carey, “It’s basically a tale of a rather extreme form of social distancing.’ — Austin Monthly                

About Edward Carey:

Edward Carey is a writer and illustrator who was born in North Walsham, Norfolk, England, during an April snowstorm. Like his father and his grandfather, both officers in the Royal Navy, he attended Pangbourne Nautical College, where the closest he came to following his family calling was playing Captain Andy in the school’s production of Showboat. Afterwards he joined the National Youth Theatre and studied drama at Hull University. He has written plays for the National Theatre of Romania and the Vilnius Small State Theatre, Lithuania. In England his plays and adaptations have been performed at the Young Vic Studio, the Battersea Arts Centre, and the Royal Opera House Studio. He has collaborated on a shadow puppet production of Macbeth in Malaysia, and with the Faulty Optic Theatre of Puppets.

He is the author of the novels OBSERVATORY MANSIONS, THE IREMONGER TRILOGY, ALVA & IRVA and LITTLE, all of which he illustrated. He always draws the characters he writes about, but often the illustrations contradict the writing and vice versa and getting both to agree with each other takes him far too long.

He has lived in England, France, Romania, Lithuania, Germany, Ireland, Denmark, and the United States. He currently teaches creative writing at the University of Texas in Austin, Texas, which is not near the sea.

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