Groundbreaking Book on Obsessive Love SMITTEN by Dr Tom Bellamy – aka “Dr L” – Snapped up by Watkins Media and Pre-empted by St Martin’s Press

We are thrilled to announce that neuroscientist Dr Tom Bellamy’s book Smitten: Romantic Obsession, the Neuroscience of Limerence and How to Make Love Last, has been acquired by Watkins Media in the UK, with an audiobook publishing with Bolinda, and in the United States by St Martin’s Press. SMITTEN investigates the under-explored area of limerence – obsessive love – through the latest ideas in neuroscience, and sheds light on the little-understood element of the human experience: infatuation. It offers practical guidance for those experiencing limerence and seeking emotional balance. You can pre-order the book here.

Former Watkins Commissioning Editor Lucy Carroll bought UK and Commonwealth rights from Juliet Pickering, with Commissioning Editor Sophie Blackman now editing the book. Audio rights for the UK and Commonwealth were won at auction by Bolinda, while US rights were pre-empted by Senior Editor Anna deVries at St Martin’s Press. The hardback and audio editions will be published in the UK on 8 April 2025, with the US edition following in Autumn 2025.

Dr Tom Bellamy says, ‘I'm delighted to be publishing SMITTEN with Watkins, who were so supportive of my vision for a science-based approach to practical self-help. Having blogged about limerence and its impact on relationships for seven years, it's great to now be able to bring that vision to life, and explain how the fundamental neuroscience of intense infatuation affects people's lives. Working together to craft the book into a guide that makes sense of obsessive love, and learn how to manage it, has been a fantastic experience.’

‘Neuroscientist Dr Tom Bellamy is just the person to help people manage their limerence, combining empathy and advice with groundbreaking science,’ said Sophie Blackman. ‘“Dr L” offers important tips on how to manage this little-known phenomena that is experienced by so many people, and we're excited to be championing his book at Watkins.’

Watkins Head of Marketing & Publicity Laura Whitaker-Jones added: ‘As Dr. Bellamy has proven through his blog and website, which receive around 120,000 hits per month and for which views have exceeded 3 million overall, there is an audience of readers clearly very curious about the science underpinning love and attraction. I particularly love that in the book he marries his extensive research with comments from those who have experienced limerence first-hand, allowing him to thoroughly dive into the ins and outs of obsessive love in an approachable, frank and engaging style. It is our hope, after reading this book, that anyone struggling with unwanted feelings negatively impacting their wellbeing can use this book to find emotional equilibrium.’

Juliet Pickering says: ‘I believe that SMITTEN will become an essential and classic book on romantic love, and submitting it to publishers has led to some fascinating and brilliant conversations. I look forward to readers being able to identify and move past their own limerence, and hopefully Tom’s book will ensure many happier relationships are able to thrive!’

SMITTEN

“Butterflies” in the stomach, intrusive thoughts, fantasies about imaginary scenarios, mood swings from euphoria to despair… aren't these all the familiar hallmarks of new love? Not quite. These are characteristics of the psychological state of “limerence”, also known as obsessive, passionate or addictive love that can become unhealthy.

Millions of people will experience limerence at some point in their life, and in this book, neuroscientist Dr Tom Bellamy explores advances in neuroscience since the term was coined in the 1970s, and sheds light on this little-understood element of the human experience. Discover:

• What drives limerence

• How to recognise limerence in yourself and others

• How to manage the phases of addiction to another person

• How to move past it to sustain longer, more fulfilling relationships.

With supportive advice about next steps, this book will help readers struggling with unwanted feelings to find emotional equilibrium.

About Tom Bellamy

Dr Tom Bellamy, PhD is a neuroscientist and Associate Professor at the University of Nottingham. He received a PhD in Neuroscience from UCL in 2001 and held a personal fellowship at the Babraham Institute in Cambridge from 2004 to 2010. He has published over forty scientific papers, abstracts and book chapters on esoteric aspects of neurophysiology. He now writes about how the mechanisms of neurophysiology can help us understand human behaviour. He started the blog “Living with Limerence” in 2017, where "Dr L" offers practical guidance on coping with unwanted infatuation. Page views have exceeded 3 million. The blog is an active online community that also offers guides and courses.

Visit the Living with Limerence website.

ANNE DE COURCY’S NEW NANCY CUNARD BIOGRAPHY TO W&N and ST MARTIN’S PRESS

Isobel Dixon of Blake Friedmann has clinched two deals for acclaimed biographer Anne de Courcy’s latest work, FIVE LOVE AFFAIRS AND A FRIENDSHIP: Scenes from the Turbulent Life of Nancy Cunard. UK and BC rights excluding Canada have been sold to Alan Samson at Weidenfeld & Nicolson, and Charles Spicer has acquired US and Canadian rights for St Martin’s Press. The deals were finalised on the basis of a proposal and the biography will be published in 2022.

Nancy Cunard was the half-American daughter of Maud Burke of San Francisco, who married Sir Bache Cunard, grandson of the founder of the Cunard shipping line. Nancy was brought up in a world of extreme luxury but also emotional neglect. A high society heiress of great beauty and intelligence, she was also a poet and political activist who founded the Hours Press in France in 1928 and was the first to publish writers like Samuel Beckett and Laura Riding, in beautiful hand-printed editions. Anne de Courcy will look at this complex woman through the lens of five key relationships in her life – her love affairs with writers and artists like Ezra Pound, Aldous Huxley and jazz pianist Henry Crowder, and also the enduring friendship with her mother’s one-time lover George Moore.

Anne de Courcy is a celebrated biographer, with long experience as a journalist and book reviewer. She has won a wide readership through her closely researched and vividly evoked lives of women throughout history, from Margot Asquith, wife of the Prime Minister during WW1 in MARGOT AT WAR, to the Cote d'Azur elite in the 1930s and 1940s in her latest book, CHANEL’S RIVIERA. THE VICEROY’S DAUGHTERS, THE FISHING FLEET and THE HUSBAND HUNTERS are among her bestselling and acclaimed books, among several others.

De Courcy’s writing is consistently described as ‘riveting’, ‘irresistible’, ‘intoxicating’, ‘vivid’ and ‘moving’, while her meticulous eye for detail and skill at research from original sources has also won praise.

Visit Anne de Courcy’s website.

Praise for Anne de Courcy and CHANEL’S RIVIERA:
‘Anne de Courcy combines the perseverance of a social historian with the panache of the novelist’ — The Times

'Dishy and well-researched...this fluidly written history succeeds in capturing the era’s intoxicating mix of glitz and grit.' — Publishers Weekly

'Intoxicating descriptions… meticulous detail' — New York Times

'Tales of glamour, decadence and survival... De Courcy's book is entertaining... a peek, at once envious and satisfyingly censorious, at the lifestyles of the rich and famous.' — Washington Post

‘Cleverly researched, sparkling with diamonds and wickedly funny.’ — Jane Ridley, The Spectator

'Sparkling, anecdote-rich narrative' – The Times

The arrival of THE HUSBAND HUNTERS in the UK, as De Courcy, Weidenfeld & St Martins set their sights on CHANEL’S RIVIERA

On 1 June Weidenfeld & Nicolson publish the UK edition of THE HUSBAND HUNTERS: Social Climbing in London & New York, Anne de Courcy’s sparkling social history of the 'Dollar Princesses' – the young American heiresses who married into the English aristocracy, rescuing crumbling castles and failing estates and gaining titles in return. UK readers can buy W&N’s beautiful hardback and download the audiobook, read by Clare Corbett.

St Martins Press will publish THE HUSBAND HUNTERS in the US in 2018. Charlie Spicer of St Martins and Alan Samson of Weidenfeld have also snapped up Anne’s new project CHANEL’S RIVIERA, for publication in 2020.

British readers are in for another De Courcy treat with THE HUSBAND HUNTERS as she tells how from 1874 – the year that Jennie Jerome, the first known 'Dollar Princess', married Randolph Churchill – to 1905, dozens of young American heiresses married into the British peerage, bringing with them all the fabulous wealth, glamour and sophistication of the Gilded Age. Anne de Courcy sets the stories of these young women and their families in the context of their times and vividly portrays a world where buying a swift route up the social ladder was the order of the day. Based on extensive first-hand research, drawing on diaries, memoirs and letters, this is a richly entertaining and revealing group biography.

CHANEL’S RIVIERA promises to be an equally enthralling take on stormy seasons on the French Riviera, with all the glamour and glitz of the high life interrupted by the outbreak of World War II. From the last golden fling of 1939 and the first Cannes Film Festival, which had to be suspended, to the first post-war festival of cinema, Anne de Courcy will tell another riveting tale, with its glossy motley crew, set against dark times. A fascinating cast includes Winston Churchill, the Windsors, Edith Wharton, Aldous Huxley, P.G. Wodehouse, Somerset Maugham, and of course Coco Chanel.

Anne de Courcy is a best-selling biographer, acclaimed for her first-hand research and engaging books, which not only tell the stories of her subjects’ lives, but depict the social history of the period. Her biographies include THE VICEROY’S DAUGHTERS, DIANA MOSLEY, DEBS AT WAR and SNOWDON. MARGOT AT WAR: LOVE AND BETRAYAL IN DOWNING STREET, 1912-1916 was shortlisted for the Paddy Power Political Book of the Year Award. THE FISHING FLEET spent many weeks on the Sunday Times bestseller list and has been optioned for film and TV, with rights to THE HUSBAND HUNTERS also under negotiation.

See more on Anne’s website here.

Praise for Anne de Courcy:

‘Anne de Courcy combines the perseverance of a social historian with the panache of the novelist’ – The Times

‘De Courcy paints a rich canvas.’ – The Sunday Times

‘De Courcy tells her story with perspicacity and aplomb.’ – The Field

‘Compulsively readable and immaculately researched, popular social history at its very best.’ – The Mail on Sunday

‘A world of glittering house parties, aristocratic immorality and political intrigue in a narrative that reads like a racy novel.’ – Sunday Times

St. Martin's pre-empts de Courcy's THE HUSBAND HUNTERS

Charles Spicer of St. Martin's has pre-empted US rights in THE HUSBAND HUNTERS: Social Climbing in London and New York, by bestselling biographer and historian Anne de Courcy. Described as ‘the real Downton Abbey story’, Anne de Courcy’s latest work tells of the wealthy American heiresses who came to England to marry impoverished aristocrats, so they could gain titles, and the titled could boost their dwindling coffers and save their threatened estates. Charlie Spicer snapped up THE HUSBAND HUNTERS from de Courcy’s agent, Isobel Dixon at Blake Friedmann, and will publish in 2018. Alan Samson of Weidenfeld will publish in the UK in June 2017.

Charles Spicer of St. Martin's says: ‘The minute I read Anne de Courcy's brilliantly researched and witty THE HUSBAND HUNTERS which brings to vivid life the world of Downton Abbey on both sides of the Atlantic, I knew I had to bring it to an American market.’

Anne de Courcy says: ‘I had great fun writing THE HUSBAND HUNTERS, which led me into all sorts of unexplored byways – the most fascinating of which, perhaps, was the realisation that while British nineteenth century society was patriarchal, in that the needs of the male came first every time, contemporary American high society was the opposite – run by women, for women. The care and dedication with which Weidenfeld & Nicolson treat books are rare and important qualities, and I’m thrilled that they are now joined by Charlie Spicer and St. Martin's, who will bring it to a wider US readership. I’m happy that THE HUSBAND HUNTERS is safe in such good transatlantic hands.’

Isobel Dixon says: ‘Anne de Courcy’s meticulous first-hand research and sparkling storytelling make for a richly entertaining group biography that will win her many more fans both sides of the Atlantic. Charlie Spicer has long been an admirer of Anne’s work and I’m delighted that St Martins are joining Weidenfeld & Nicolson in publishing THE HUSBAND HUNTERS now.’

 Anne de Courcy is a best-selling biographer, acclaimed for her first-hand research and engaging books which not only tell the stories of her subjects’ lives, but vividly depict the social history of the period. Her biographies, all of which have been serialised, include THE VICEROY’S DAUGHTERS, DIANA MOSLEY, DEBS AT WAR and SNOWDON. THE FISHING FLEET spent many weeks on the Sunday Times bestseller list. Her most recent book, MARGOT AT WAR: LOVE AND BETRAYAL IN DOWNING STREET, 1912-1916 was shortlisted for the Paddy Power Political Book of the Year Award.

See more on Anne’s website here.

Praise for Anne de Courcy:

 ‘Anne de Courcy combines the perseverance of a social historian with the panache of the novelist’ – The Times

Praise for THE FISHING FLEET:

‘…rich and exhilarating …’ – Lady Antonia Fraser, Mail on Sunday Critics’ Choice, Books of the Year 2012

‘A spirited, highly entertaining book... a sparkling collage of stories and quotations in which we hear the authentic voices of the women and girls she portrays, most of them natural, unaffected writers with sharp eyes, a gift for description and a sense of humour.... brilliantly researched, skilfully constructed and full of delights.’ – Anne Chisholm, The Daily Telegraph

 ‘Fascinating and evocatively told history’ – Financial Times

THE TYPEWRITER'S TALE by Michiel Heyns, published today by St. Martin's Press

THE TYPEWRITER’S TALE by Michiel Heyns is published today in the USA by St. Martin’s Press. When the novel was first released in South Africa, it was shortlisted for both the Commonwealth Prize for African Writers, and the Herman Charles Bosman Prize, SA. It was also featured as a BBC Radio 4 Book at Bedtime in 2016.

The book has already been receiving pre-publication praise in the USA:

‘Literary history blends masterfully with a plot of intrigue in this slim and delightful novel' - Kirkus Reviews

‘An engaging whodunit atmosphere, in which faithfully re-created real-life individuals mix well with authentically drawn fictitious ones' Starred Booklist

THE TYPEWRITER’S TALE brings to life acclaimed writer Henry James, but the author is not the hero of the piece — the heroine is the wonderful fictional character of his typist, Frieda Wroth.

We discover society in the town of Rye around ‘the Master’, as seen through the cool gaze of his typist, Frieda — a woman stirred by the suffragette movement and her own fledgling passions and ambitions. Admiring of the great author, she nevertheless feels under-valued, as his mere ‘typewriter’. But when the dashing Morton Fullerton comes to visit, Frieda finds herself at the centre of an intrigue every bit as engrossing as the novels she types every day, bringing her into conflict with the flamboyant Edith Wharton, and compromising her loyalty to her employer.

Caught in a complex triangle with urbane, long-winded James, suave, witty Morton Fullerton and voracious, larger-than life Edith Wharton, Frieda tries to obey the Master’s dictum: ‘Live all you can; it’s a mistake not to.’ But living, she finds, exacts a price…

More praise for THE TYPEWRITER’S TALE:

 ‘THE TYPEWRITER’S TALE beams a brilliant light onto the world of Henry James, illuminating the language, manners and social mores of the early twentieth century. This exquisite account of the master and his amanuensis is a tour de force; her story, for all the confines of a typist's life in Rye, a triumph. Heyns is an important figure in South African letters; here, he is profound and humorous. THE TYPEWRITER’S TALE is a breathtaking work and, above all, a pleasure to read.’ – Zoe Wicomb

‘What a great idea!  The master-observer is observed by his stenographer. A delicious treat for Henry James aficionados, and also for those who may never have read a word. Sly, sympathetic, high-minded, involving, moving, funny. I loved it, and was very sorry to reach the last page. But Frieda Wroth and Mr James and the other characters will live on in my mind.’ – Ronald Frame

‘THE TYPEWRITER’S TALE is admirable for its Jamesian inwardness and delicacy. It’s a brilliant idea to explore the typewriter’s view of the great writer she serves and to imagine so plausibly how she is drawn into his world.’ – Lyndall Gordon

‘A hugely refreshing South African novel … Heyns has a knack for building clear, expressive prose like a watchmaker fitting together the workings of a timepiece.’ – Gareth Pike, Sunday Times

Michiel Heyns is a Professor Emeritus of English Literature, prize-winning novelist, translator, and critic. All of his novels have been published in South Africa by Jonathan Ball, who publish I AM PANDARUS in 2017. Freight will publish LOST GROUND in the UK in 2018.