Peter James’s THE HAWK IS DEAD flies high!

THE HAWK IS DEAD, the highly anticipated 21st novel in Peter James’s internationally bestselling Roy Grace series, was published on 21st October by Pan Macmillan in the UK and US. THE HAWK IS DEAD jumped straight to Number 3 in the bestseller charts after five days on sale with a close to 25% increase in sales compared to last year’s Roy Grace, ONE OF US IS DEAD. 

Ahead of publication, THE HAWK IS DEAD was praised by the likes of James Patterson who said ‘‘What a fool I’ve been not to have read Peter James until THE HAWK IS DEAD… I have no idea if this is the best Roy Grace thriller, but it’s most definitely a great story’, Alexandra Potter at Stylist who said ‘Fast-paced and gripping, I couldn’t put it down!’, and more (see below).

The publication campaign saw Peter embark on an extensive tour across the UK, taking part in radio and podcast interviews, book signings, Q&As, meet and greets, a TV appearance on BBC Breakfast and 5 News, and festival appearances at Jersey Festival of Words, The Queen’s Reading Room Festival at Chatsworth and Cranbrook Literary Festival, among others. The campaign culminated in celebrations at three separate launches in London (at Hatchards Picadilly, where Peter was interviewed by Angela Rippon), on Grace ‘home turf’ in Brighton and in Jersey.

At dozens of book store and supermarket events, scores of fans queued to have their copies of THE HAWK IS DEAD signed. You can catch up on Peter’s podcast interviews on Murder Junction, Quick Book Reviews, Shelf Life and Spectator – The Book Club as well as his radio feature on BBC Radio 4’s Saturday Live with Adrian Chiles.

Peter also reflected on 20 bestselling years of the Roy Grace series in a feature in The Bookseller, and sat down for an interview with Rebecca English for the Daily Mail, which also serialised the novel ahead of publication. And there’s plenty more book and launch content on Peter’s Instagram!

In THE HAWK IS DEAD, Her Majesty, Queen Camilla, is aboard the Royal Train heading to a charity event in Sussex when disaster strikes – the train is derailed. A tragic accident or a planned attack? When, minutes later, a trusted aide is shot dead by a sniper, the police have their answer.

Despite all the evidence, Roy Grace is not convinced The Queen was the intended target. But he finds himself alone in his suspicions. Fighting against the scepticism of his colleagues and the Palace itself, Grace pursues his own investigation. But when there is a second murder, the stakes rise even higher, and Grace is at risk of being embroiled in a very public catastrophe – and in mortal danger.

Failure at this level is not an option. But time is running out before a killer in the Palace will strike again…

The Roy Grace series is also a huge hit on TV; fans can catch series five of GRACE on ITVX, starring John Simm and Richie Campbell. The opening episode achieved average viewing figures of 3 million, surpassing ITV1’s slot average of 2.6 million viewers. The much-loved series will return for Series Six in 2026.

Peter is currently writing the next novel in the Roy Grace series.

About Peter James

Peter James is a New York Times and Sunday Times bestselling author best known for his crime thrillers featuring Detective Superintendent Roy Grace, who Queen Camilla recently named as her favourite fictional detective.

Praised by critics and much-loved by crime and thriller fans for his fast-paced page-turners full of unexpected plot twists, sinister characters, and accurate portrayal of modern-day policing, he has won more than 40 awards for his work, including the WHSmith Best Crime Author of All Time Award and the Crime Writers’ Association Diamond Dagger. His books have sold over 23 million copies worldwide, achieved 21 Sunday Times No.1s, and have been translated into 38 languages.

His Roy Grace novels are currently filming their 6th season for the hit ITV drama, Grace, starring John Simm as the troubled Brighton copper and available to view on ITVX and on Britbox. Seven of his novels have been adapted into hit stage plays. His plays have been named as ‘the most successful stage franchise since Agatha Christie’.

Praise for THE HAWK IS DEAD

‘What a fool I’ve been not to have read Peter James until THE HAWK IS DEAD. Anyway, I have no idea if this is the best Roy Grace thriller, but it’s most definitely a great story.’ – James Patterson

‘THE HAWK IS DEAD is classic Peter James, combining the trademark intricate plotting of his acclaimed Roy Grace series with a fascinating, behind-the-scenes exploration of life within the royal household.’ – Rachel Abbott

‘The pages turn themselves in James’ series’ – Anna Bonet, the i newspaper, ‘The best new crime and thriller books to read in October 2025’

‘I’d never read a detective novel before, but what better place to start than this thumping new thriller from Peter James? A murder investigation sends him deep into Buckingham Palace when Her Majesty Queen Camilla’s train is derailed, and her trusted aide is shot dead by a sniper. Fast-paced and gripping, I couldn’t put it down!’ – Alexandra Potter, Stylist

‘Packed with detail about the workings of the modern monarchy, the plot thunders along, underlining just how consummate a crime novelist James is.’ – Geoffrey Wansell, The Daily Mail

‘An utterly compelling thriller, this is James at his masterful best – one of the best writers around.’ – Jonathan Whitelaw, The Sun, ‘Pick of The Week’

Visit Peter’s website.

Follow him on BlueSky and Instagram. 

THE GHOSTS OF ROME by Joseph O’Connor shortlisted for two An Post Irish Book Awards 2025

THE GHOSTS OF ROME by Joseph O’Connor has been shortlisted for the Listeners’ Choice Award and the Novel of the Year Award at the An Post Irish Book Awards 2025. This year marks the twentieth anniversary of the Irish Book Awards, a set of industry-recognition awards set up by a coalition of Irish booksellers to celebrate and promote Irish writing, with winners voted for by readers. The winners will be announced at a ceremony on 27th November and the An Post Irish Book of the Year TV show will air on RTÉ One on 11th December.

Readers can vote for their favourites on the An Post Irish Book Awards website.

THE GHOSTS OF ROME is the second in Joseph O’Connor’s Escape Line Trilogy and was first published in the UK by Harvill Secker in January 2025 and in the US by Europa Editions in February 2025. It flew straight to Number One in the Irish bestseller chart after only 3 days on sale, remaining in the overall Irish Top Ten for five weeks, and in the Irish Paperback Top 10 for sixteen weeks. It hit the Top 20 in the UK charts.

In THE GHOSTS OF ROME, Contessa Giovanna Landini is a member of the band of Escape Line activists known as ‘The Choir’ in the beleaguered city of Rome. Their mission is to smuggle refugees to safety and help Allied soldiers, all under the nose of Gestapo boss Paul Hauptmann.

During a ferocious air raid a mysterious parachutist lands in Rome and disappears into the backstreets. Is he an ally or an imposter? His fate will come to put the whole Escape Line at risk.

Meanwhile, Hauptmann’s attention has landed on the Contessa. As his fascination grows, she is pulled into a dangerous game with him – one where the consequences could be lethal.

The other shortlisted titles for Novel of the Year include: CONVERSATION WITH THE SEA by Hugo Hamilton, FUN AND GAMES by John Patrick McHugh,  LET ME GO MAD IN MY OWN WAY by Elaine Feeney, NESTING by Roisín O’Donnell, THE BENEFACTORS by Wendy Erskine, THE BOY FROM THE SEA by Garrett Carr and VENETIAN VESPERS by John Banville. And for the Listener’s Choice Award: A TIME FOR TRUTH: MY FATHER JASON AND MY SEARCH FOR JUSTICE AND HEALING by Sarah Corbett Lynch, INTENSIVE CARE: TRUE STORIES OF HEALING, HEARTACHE AND HOPE FROM INSIDE IRISH CHILDREN’S MEDICINE by Dr Suzanne Crowe, NESTING by Roisín O’Donnell, OLD PARISH: NOTES ON HURLING by Ciarán Murphy and THE GAEILGE GUIDE: SPARK YOUR CONNECTION TO THE IRISH LANGUAGE AND LEGACY by Mollie Guidera.

The first novel in the trilogy, MY FATHER’S HOUSE, was also an Irish Number One bestseller and has now sold more than 150,000 copies in English. It was shortlisted for the 2024 Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction and the Eason An Post Irish Novel of the year 2023, and also longlisted for the 2024 Dublin Literary Award. Film rights are optioned and translation rights are also sold in Brazil, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Poland, Spain and Sweden.

Joseph is currently working on the next novel in the trilogy, to be published in the UK and the US in early 2027.

To celebrate the centenary of the ordination of Hugh O'Flaherty, the central character of MY FATHER'S HOUSE, who also features in THE GHOSTS OF ROME, An Post have issued a commemorative postage stamp in his honour. Joseph O'Connnor has written an article on Hugh O’Flaherty and his correspondence to mark this event.

Photo credit: Urszula Soltys

About Joseph O’Connor

Joseph O’Connor was born in Dublin, where he still lives. THE GHOSTS OF ROME is his eleventh novel: he is also the author of film scripts, radio and stage plays, two collections of short stories, and several bestselling works of non-fiction.

2022 was the 20th anniversary of Joseph O’Connor’s novel STAR OF THE SEA which was an international bestseller, selling more than a million copies in the UK alone and being published in 38 languages. It won France’s Prix Millepages, Italy’s Premio Acerbi, the Irish Post Award for Fiction, the Nielsen Bookscan Golden Book Award, an American Library Association Award, the Hennessy/Sunday Tribune Hall of Fame Award, and the Prix Litteraire Zepter for European Novel of the Year.

His novel GHOST LIGHT was chosen as Dublin’s One City Book novel for 2011. Published in 2019, SHADOWPLAY, has won him extraordinary praise, was shortlisted for the Walter Scott Prize, The Dalkey Novel Prize, the Costa Novel Prize, among others, and won him Novel of the Year at the An Post Irish Book Awards. The French edition was shortlisted for the Jean Monnet Prize and the Vintage paperback was a Richard and Judy Winter 2020 pick.

He holds an honorary Doctorate in Literature from University College Dublin and received the Irish PEN Award for Outstanding Contribution to Irish Literature in 2012. He is the Inaugural Frank McCourt Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Limerick.

Praise for THE GHOSTS OF ROME

‘THE GHOSTS OF ROME, Joseph O’Connor’s second novel in his projected trilogy about Rome under Nazi occupation, blazes with the imaginative flair and narrative energy that won its predecessor, MY FATHER’S HOUSE, high acclaim… There’s no slackening of tension, though, in the gripping account of wartime heroism, risk and resourcefulness this book continues. Jeopardy quivers through it… . The ugly stratum of Nazi oppression O’Connor’s novel graphically resurrects is packed with sensuously evoked reminders of Rome's rich past in this haunted and haunting novel.’ – Peter Kemp, The Sunday Times

‘O’Connor’s prose creates an extraordinary picture of Rome under Nazi control; brutal, chaotic, treacherous, decaying, wrecked and crumbling, and yet sometimes still bathed in glorious and unexpected light, literally and metaphorically. THE GHOSTS OF ROME is described as a sequel to MY FATHER’S HOUSE. The term is inadequate. Each can be read without reference to the other, but together they make a whole greater than the parts. An epic of war… O’Connor’s theme is not the world war in its widest sense, nor even the moral discomfort that is Vatican neutrality. Yet THE GHOSTS OF ROME make its own statement about these things. Focusing on people whose response to evil is only to act, he opens us to a humanity too urgent for debate and analysis.’ – Michael Russell, The Irish Times

‘The Choir’s attempts to rescue a grievously wounded Polish airman right under the nose of Gestapo commander Paul Hauptmann, who has been warned of the Fuhrer’s “intense displeasure” at his failure to eradicate the Escape Line, have a nail-bitingly tense “real time” feel to them. BBC interviews from the 1960s with former Choir members and fragments of an unpublished memoir give historical perspective and added pathos to this vivid and moving story, with O’Connor seamlessly combining real characters with imagined ones.’ – Laura Wilson, The Guardian, ‘The best recent crime and thrillers’

 ‘The power of THE GHOSTS OF ROME comes from the dazzling variety of voices employed, the sense of a world constructed in the multiple dimensions…  O’Connor has often been likened to the great Irish modernists for the lyricism of his voice-driven novels. But THE GHOSTS OF ROME also situates him within a broader European tradition of memory and moral reckoning, one that returns again and again to World War II. O’Connor embraces this legacy while transcending its cliches. His Rome is not merely a setting but a crucible, a city where the sacred and the profane collide, where resilience is forged in the shadow of ruins. By crafting a chorus of voices, he ensures that no single narrative dominates, reflecting the messy, multifaceted truths of history – the way it is lived and how it is constructed in retrospect. What emerges in not just a wartime thriller, though it is that, but a meditation on how we remember, how we resist and how, even in the darkest times, humanity endures.’ – Alex Preston, The New York Times

‘O’Connor has done his research with care, drawing on O’Flaherty’s unpublished letters, diaries and journalism. With his real people in place, the author spins a new tale of derring-do, recounted with the help of imagined interviews conducted many years later… O’Connor paints a lively picture of a city filled with Fascist police and German soldiers, some on furlough from the North, everyone watchful and hungry, the streets filthy, the black-market prices rising every day… THE GHOSTS OF ROME is both a tribute to the imagination and courage of his remarkable team and a riveting thriller.’ – Caroline Moorehead, The Times Literary Supplement

Visit Joseph O’Connor’s website.

Abbie Cornish and Dougray Scott sign up to new Deon Meyer adaptation THE INVISIBLE for M-Net and ITV Studios

THE INVISIBLE – a new eight-part miniseries adapted from internationally acclaimed bestselling author Deon Meyer’s novel BLOOD SAFARI – has just been announced, with star casting led by Australian Abbie Cornish (LIMITLESS; THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING MISSOURI) and Scottish star Dougray Scott (CRIME; ENIGMA). The series is a co-production between M-Net, Scene23, Berkeley Media Group (BMG), and ITV Studios, who will distribute internationally.

THE INVISIBLE follows Dekker – a former professional bodyguard – and Emma, an expat who returns to South Africa in search of her long-missing brother, who together get drawn into a deadly game following a spate of vigilante killings in the Kruger National Park.

The series was created by Deon himself, along with William Josef Schneider, who will lead the writing team on the adaptation. The directors are Jozua Malherbe – who also helmed previous adaptations DEVIL’S PEAK and TRACKERS – and award-winning playwright and filmmaker Amy Jephta (BARAKAT; CATCH A KILLER). Joining Cornish and Scott in the cast will be South African talent Kim Engelbrecht, Tim Theron and Tumisho Masha.

‘To say I’m proud, grateful and excited about The Invisible as a TV series is a vast understatement,’ commented Deon. ‘We’ve worked so hard for two years to put the series together, and now, it’s finally going into production with an excellent broadcast partner and executive production team, great writers, a stellar, international cast, a brilliant director and the best film crew in the world. How cool is that?’

About THE INVISIBLE

In the shadow of South Africa’s Kruger National Park, a mysterious killer begins executing local poachers. As the body count rises, local Inspector Jack Phatudi is drawn into a dangerous manhunt to unmask the vigilante.

At the same time, Dekker — a former bodyguard with a haunted past — is hired to protect Emma, a South African expat, who returns home to search for her brother who she believes is still alive, despite his disappearance 20 years ago.

When Phatudi’s investigation collides with Emma and Dekker’s quest, they uncover a buried conspiracy reaching back to the political assassination of a pivotal African leader. As powerful forces close in, all three are forced to confront the explosive truth — one that could rewrite history, and that others will kill to keep hidden.

About Deon Meyer

Deon Meyer lives in Stellenbosch. His books are sold in more than 40 countries worldwide, and have been awarded many prizes around the world: the Deutsche Krimi Prize in Germany, the ATKV Prize in South Africa, the Martin Beck Award in Sweden and Le Grand Prix de Littérature Policière and Le Prix Mystère de la Critique in France. COBRA was shortlisted for the 2015 CWA International Dagger, THIRTEEN HOURS was shortlisted for the 2010 CWA International Dagger, and HEART OF THE HUNTER, was longlisted for the 2005 IMPAC Prize and selected as one of Chicago Tribune’s ‘10 best mysteries and thrillers of 2004’. THE DARK FLOOD was longlisted for the 2023 CWA Dagger for Crime Fiction in Translation, and LEO enjoyed ten weeks at the top of the South African bestseller lists, Number One in all categories, before going on to win Best Adult Fiction and Book of the Year at the 2024 SA Book Awards, and the ATKV-Woordveertjies Prize for best Afrikaans Thriller. His latest novel, SKORPIO, will be published in Afrikaans by Humans and Rousseau in November 2025, ahead of an English-language edition by new publisher Pan Macmillan in late 2026.

Adaptations of Deon’s novels have recently had great success on screen: in April 2024, HEART OF THE HUNTER topped the global Netflix film charts, becoming the first African film to do so, with over 11 million views in its first two days alone. DEVIL’S PEAK was also adapted for a miniseries by Lookout Point and Expanded Media Productions, premiering on M-Net in South Africa in 2023 before reaching audiences in the USA, New Zealand, Belgium, The Netherlands and Luxembourg. In 2020, TRACKERS, produced by Three River Fiction and Scene 23, aired on Sky Atlantic in the UK and HBO in the USA, as well as Australia and New Zealand, and across the Nordic countries and Europe.

Praise for Deon Meyer

‘He’s up there with the best in the world.’ – Marcel Berlins, The Times

‘I love Deon Meyer novels. It’s global storytelling at its best, with the undeniable hallmarks of gritty realism and deep character building.’ – Michael Connelly

‘Deon Meyer's name on the cover is a guarantee of crime writing at its best.’ – Tess Gerritsen

‘Deon Meyer is one of the giants of crime fiction.’ – El Mundo

‘One of the best crime writers on the planet.’ – Mail on Sunday

Visit Deon’s website

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Graeme Macrae Burnet’s A CASE OF MATRICIDE wins Best International Crime Fiction prize at the Ned Kelly Awards

We are delighted to announce that Graeme Macrae Burnet’s A CASE OF MATRICIDE has been announced as the winner of the Best International Crime Fiction prize at Australia’s Ned Kelly Awards!

Run by the Australian Crime Writers Association, the Ned Kelly Awards are Australia’s oldest and most prestigious honours for the best crime fiction and true crime writing published in Australia. A CASE OF MATRICIDE, published by Text Publishing in Australia in October 2024, won against fellow nominees Michael Bennett, David McCloskey, Charity Norman, Jacqueline Bublitz and Michael Connelly.

A CASE OF MATRICIDE – in which small-town French police inspector Georges Gorski must investigate the overlapping paths of a deceased business magnate, a shadowy stranger with no apparent reason to be there, and the titular threat of familial murder – sees Graeme receive his second nomination at the Ned Kelly Awards, having also been recognised for his Booker-longlisted standalone CASE STUDY in 2022.

Alongside Text Publishing, A CASE OF MATRICIDE was published in North America by Biblioasis and, most recently, as a paperback in the UK by Saraband in May 2025. The audiobook edition is published by Bolinda, and rights have sold to Impedimenta in Spain. Graeme will return this autumn with his new novella BENBECULA, the latest entry in Polygon’s Darkland Tales series, in which Scotland’s best writers reimagine moments from the country’s past – Polygon, Biblioasis and Text will all publish in October 2025.

Congratulations Graeme!

About A CASE OF MATRICIDE

In the unremarkable French town of Saint-Louis, a mysterious stranger stalks the streets; an elderly woman believes her son is planning to do away with her; a prominent manufacturer drops dead. Between visits to the town’s bars, Chief Inspector Georges Gorski mulls over the connections, if any, between these events, while all the time grappling with his own domestic and existential demons.

Graeme Macrae Burnet pierces the respectable bourgeois façade of small-town life in this deeply human story. He draws a wry humour from the tiniest of details and delves into the darkest recesses of his characters’ minds to present a fascinating puzzle that blurs the boundaries between suspect, investigator and reader in an entertaining, profound and moving novel.

Credit: Euan Anderson

About Graeme Macrae Burnet

Graeme Macrae Burnet was born in Kilmarnock, Ayrshire and now lives in Glasgow. He has also lived in the Czech Republic, France, Portugal and London.

His first novel, THE DISAPPEARANCE OF ADÈLE BEDEAU (Contraband, 2014), received a New Writer’s Award from the Scottish Book Trust and was longlisted for the Waverton Good Read Award. A second Inspector Gorski novel, THE ACCIDENT ON THE A35, was published in 2017, and the trilogy was completed in 2024 with the ‘tragic, cinematic, propulsive' (Martin MacInnes) A CASE OF MATRICIDE.

HIS BLOODY PROJECT (Contraband, 2015) won the Saltire Society Fiction Book of the Year Award and the Vrij Nederland Thriller of the Year, and was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, the LA Times Mystery Book of the Year and the European Crime Fiction prize. It has been published in over twenty languages. CASE STUDY was published in 2021 by Saraband (UK), Text (ANZ) and Bolinda (UK audio) to wide critical acclaim. The North American edition was published in 2022 by Biblioasis. It has been longlisted for the Booker Prize 2022 and the Dublin Literary Award, and shortlisted for the Gordon Burn Prize and Ned Kelly International Crime Prize. It has been published in fifteen languages.

Graeme was named Author of the Year in the 2017 Sunday Herald Culture Awards and has appeared at festivals and events in Australia, New Zealand, the US, Canada, Russia, Estonia, Macau, Ireland, Germany, Poland and France, as well as in the UK.

Praise for A CASE OF MATRICIDE

‘A dizzyingly immersive experience. Macrae Burnet’s Gorski novels were already a significant achievement, but the concluding part is breathtaking – tragic, cinematic, propulsive – and marks a new standard in contemporary crime fiction.’ – Martin MacInnes, Booker-longlisted author of IN ASCENSION

‘Burnet plays metafictional games, but the book pulls off the rare double of being emotionally involving as well as teasingly tricksy.’ – Jake Kerridge, 5* review, The Telegraph

‘Brilliantly weird.’ – Paula Hawkins, author of THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN

‘I’ve long appreciated the way Burnet’s novels are in conversation with earlier times… min[ing] the postmodern era without pretense and with deep respect… You can gulp down A CASE OF MATRICIDE in one sitting, as the prose style seems to demand. But linger over Burnet’s novel, and its real pleasures emerge.’ – Sarah Weinman, New York Times

‘A CASE OF MATRICIDE demonstrates literary talent of the highest order… Details of place are especially rich, and the subtle mores of the small town are reflected in Gorski’s misguided incorruptibility… few writers can rival Burnet.’ – Andrew Rosenheim, The Spectator

‘Macrae Burnet brings a slyly playful quality to his reimagining of the classic police procedural… and here delivers a wickedly funny novel that owes as much of a debt to Albert Camus as it does to Georges Simenon.’ – Declan Burke, Irish Times

‘Burnet has proved to be a durable talent, and A CASE OF MATRICIDE continues his upwards trajectory… this final book in a trilogy is a triumph.’ – Barry Forshaw, Financial Times

‘Graeme Macrae Burnet’s A CASE OF MATRICIDE finished up his Gorski trilogy with all the Kafkaesque shenanigans, paranoia and observational bathos you could wish for. It’s an incredibly fun, cleverly crafted novel that works on so many levels I can even forgive him for being a postmodernist.’ – Eimear McBride, The New Statesman, ‘Books of the Year 2024’

Visit Graeme’s website.

Follow Graeme on X (previously Twitter) and Instagram.

Prize-winning poet Romalyn Ante’s lyrical debut novel THE LEFT-BEHIND CHILD to be published by Chatto & Windus

Photo: Jeremiah Doles

Romalyn Ante – the Poetry London Prize and Manchester Poetry Prize-winning author of AGIMAT and ANTIEMETIC FOR HOMESICKNESS – has written her debut novel THE LEFT-BEHIND CHILD, which reveals the experiences of Filipino overseas workers, untold in fiction until now, through the story of one family, and one daughter in particular. Rosanna Hildyard, assistant editor at Chatto & Windus, has acquired World All-Language rights from Isobel Dixon, with publication in the UK set for 2 July 2026.

The book is an evocative coming-of-age story following Neneng, a spirited girl growing up in Lipa, whose life is forced onto a new path when her mother, Rosa, leaves to work as a nurse in Oman and then the UK.

As Neneng navigates the pressures of caring for a ‘left behind’ family, her resentment at her mother’s desertion, and the experience of first love, things come to a head when she herself falls into danger. Yet THE LEFT-BEHIND CHILD shows that perhaps Neneng and Rosa’s experiences are not so different, despite being geographically far apart.

‘I feel incredibly honoured that Chatto and the Blake Friedmann Literary Agency believed in this novel, even in its earliest stages,’ said Romalyn. ‘This is our story, but it’s also yours: a story of every child and parent separated by distance and time. I hope it gives voice to the narratives that have been left behind, yet continue to shape who we are – and the love that we carry.’

‘When I first read Ante’s prose, I was blown away by the emotional pull of the relationship she portrays between an equally stubborn mother and daughter,’ added Rosanna Hildyard. ‘This novel takes you to the heart of one particular family, but it also puts the spotlight on a global community that many countries rely on – with over 40,000 Filipino health workers in the UK’s NHS alone. It’s an unforgettable and important story.’

Isobel Dixon said: ‘Romalyn Ante’s poetry has captivated and challenged me since I first heard her read her prizewinning poem of nursing experience, ‘Names’, years ago. I am thrilled that Rosanna Hildyard and Chatto have embraced her vivid storytelling in THE LEFT-BEHIND CHILD, a novel of both heartbreak and balm, that will speak to so many readers around the world.’

US and Translation rights are available. For US, please contact Lucy Beresford-Knox (LBeresford-Knox@penguinrandomhouse.co.uk), and for translation requests, please be in touch with Celia Long (CLong1@penguinrandomhouse.co.uk).

About Romalyn Ante

Romalyn Ante is a Filipino-British writer born and bred in Lipa, Philippines. She was 16 years old when her mother – a nurse in the National Health Service – brought the family to the United Kingdom. She now lives in the West Midlands where, as well as writing and editing, she works as a registered NHS nurse and psychotherapist, specialising in the mental healthcare of young people.

Her debut poetry collection, ANTIEMETIC FOR HOMESICKNESS, is published by Chatto & Windus and was an Irish Times Best Poetry Book of 2020, an Observer Poetry Book of the Month and a Poetry School Poetry Book of the Year 2020. It was also a National Poetry Day UK Recommended Read and was shortlisted for the Jhalak Prize and longlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize. Chatto published her second collection AGIMAT in 2023, which was longlisted for the 2025 Jhalak Prize for Poetry.

She is co-founding editor of harana poetry, a magazine for poets who write in English as a second or parallel language, and the founder of Tsaá with Roma, an online interview series with poets and other creatives. She was awarded the Jerwood Compton Poetry Fellowship and she currently sits as an editorial board member for Poetry London magazine.  She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and the first East-Asian writer to win the Poetry London Prize (2018) and the Manchester Poetry Prize (2017). She also won the Creative Future Literary Award 2017.

Praise for Romalyn Ante

‘Ante is an alchemical wonder of a poet: unparalleled in her image-making, raw to both historical and contemporary damage and rich in cultures.’ – Fiona Benson

‘Captivating, playful, moving, witty and agile... an unforced poet with a lightness of touch and fortitude’ – The Guardian

‘Romalyn Ante is a poet to fall in love with’ – Liz Berry

‘Ante's poems are like embers, pared back to a slow-burning emotional core’ – Times Literary Supplement

‘I felt grateful for the tender attention the poet affords to a hope that many of us hold dear: that as patients – that as people – we may amount to more than just flesh and bone. Thankfully, in the hands of Romalyn Ante the human self far exceeds statistics and the subtotal of all its scars.’ – Jade Cuttle, The Observer

Follow Romalyn on X and Instagram