Will Dean’s bestselling Tuva series to be published by Hodder

Photo credit: Rosalind Hobley

Jo Dickinson, executive publisher at Hodder & Stoughton, has acquired world English language rights from Kate Burke to books six and seven in Will Dean’s Tuva Moodyson series. With the first five books of the series previously published by Oneworld, this move brings all of Dean’s writing under one publishing house. She has also acquired the US rights in books one through to five.

Hodder has published Dean’s standalone novels since 2021, beginning with THE LAST THING TO BURN which received huge acclaim from readers and reviewers alike, and was nominated for a number of awards. The paperback of Dean’s second standalone novel FIRST BORN and the hardback of his third, THE LAST PASSENGER, will both be published in spring 2023, backed by major campaigns.

Will Dean says: ‘Writing the Tuva Moodyson books is a privilege. Every novel is both a challenge and a real pleasure to write. I am constantly awed by the dedication and talent of the Hodder team, and I’m thrilled Jo Dickinson will be publishing the next books in the series. I’m excited for readers, new and old, to discover the next Tuva story: a dark, icy standalone set deep in the Swedish mountains.’

Kate Burke says: 'I’m delighted to have this deal in place, bringing both strands of Will’s brilliant writing under one roof. I’m very excited for the next steps in his publishing journey!”

Jo Dickinson says that it has been ‘an absolute joy to work with Will these past three years’, and added: ‘His creativity, ambition and passion for the writing community is awe-inspiring. Bringing the Tuva series to the Hodder list is the exciting next step in our growth and allows us to manage both strands to maximum potential.’

Book six in the Tuva series, as yet untitled, will feature Tuva Moodyson but be a standalone locked-room thriller. It will be published in hardback, e-book and audio in autumn 2024.

The synopsis reads: ‘When reporter Moodyson discovers a deaf teenage ice-hockey star has gone missing in the far north of Sweden, she races eight hours north. The town she arrives at is separated from the outside world by a vast mountain range, accessible only through a tunnel that closes each night. As Tuva investigates, other locals begin to go missing and it becomes clear there is a serial killer on the loose, who is locked in with the town every night…’

About Will Dean

Will Dean grew up in the East Midlands, living in nine different villages before the age of eighteen. After studying law at the LSE, and working many varied jobs in London, he settled in rural Sweden with his wife. He built a wooden house in a boggy forest clearing and it's from this base that he compulsively reads and writes.

Praise for Tuva Moodyson series

‘Scandi Noir meets Gormenghast. Just wonderful. Can’t get enough of Tuva Moodyson…’ – Mark Billingham

‘Tuva is a wonderful creation and Dean’s series is not to be missed.’ — Daily Express

‘In the legions of “Scandibrits” – British writers who set their work in the Nordic countries – Will Dean is primus inter pares.’ – Financial Times

 ‘Tuva […] is admirably resilient, full of warmth and humour (as well as having curious gastronomic tastes) and generally manages to identify the murderers who skulk among the strange inhabitants of the region… Her travails may well give sensitive readers nightmares, but that’s a small price to pay for spending time in her exhilarating company.’ – Natasha Cooper, Literary Review

 

Follow Will on Twitter and Instagram.

Visit Will’s YouTube channel.

Exciting new historical crime series by debut author Bridget Walsh sold to Gallic Books

Gallic Books have acquired World English Language rights to the first two novels in the Minnie Ward and Albert Easterbrook series by Bridget Walsh from Isobel Dixon. Set in Victorian London, both THE TUMBLING GIRL and THE INNOCENTS are fast paced, gripping mysteries that will delight fans of Janice Hallett and Anthony Horowitz’s Sherlock Holmes novels.

The first, THE TUMBLING GIRL, follows Minnie and Albert as they investigate the brutal murder of Minnie’s best friend Rose. But there is more to this murder than meets the eye, and as the bodies pile up and danger closes in, Albert’s feelings for his new partner start to interfere with the investigation. THE INNOCENTS continues their story…

Joe Harper, MD at Gallic Books, says: ‘We are delighted to be publishing Bridget’s debut. THE TUMBLING GIRL is the first in a gripping, evocative mystery series and we can’t wait to introduce readers to Minnie Ward and Albert Easterbrook.’

Bridget Walsh says: ‘These books grew out of my fascination with the darker, sometimes unexpected side of Victorian life. I’m delighted that Minnie Ward and Albert Easterbrook have found such a great home and am very excited to develop the series with the team at Gallic.’

Isobel Dixon says: ‘When I first heard Bridget read at an event, I was immediately struck by the story, characters and atmosphere she so deftly conjures. I’m delighted that Gallic Books are giving THE TUMBLING GIRL a good home and can’t wait for readers to meet Minnie Ward and Albert Easterbrook too!’

THE TUMBLING GIRL will be released in May 2023, with its sequel, THE INNOCENTS, following in 2024.  You can pre-order THE TUMBLING GIRL now.  

About Bridget Walsh

BRIDGET WALSH was born in London to Irish immigrant parents. She studied English Literature and was an English teacher for 23 years, before leaving the profession to pursue her writing. Bridget lives in Norwich with her husband, Micky, and her two dogs.

THE TUMBLING GIRL is her first novel and won the UEA Little, Brown Award for Crime Fiction 2019.

Follow Bridget on Twitter.

Acclaimed series RECIPES FOR LOVE AND MURDER shortlisted for a Rose D'or

We are delighted that the television adaptation of Sally Andrew’s beloved Tannie Maria series, RECIPES FOR LOVE AND MURDER, has been shortlisted in the Comedy Drama and Sitcom category at the Rose d’Or Awards. Established in 1961, the prestigious Rose d’Or Awards celebrate excellence and achievement in International TV and Audio programme making. The nominees for Rose d’Or 2022 will be announced at the start of November, ahead of the Awards which will be presented on November 28th.

Originally broadcast in South Africa on M-Net, RECIPES FOR LOVE AND MURDER is available for streaming on Acorn TV in the UK, Australia and New Zealand, United States, Canada and Latin America. The engaging 10-part series can also be watched on Acorn via Amazon Prime.

Irish actor Maria Doyle Kennedy, whose credits include OUTLANDER and THE TUDORS, stars as series heroine Tannie Maria alongside Tony Kgoroge (INVICTUS), and newcomer Kylie Fisher. See Maria Doyle Kennedy talking about preparing for her role (filming in South Africa, but with a Scottish accent – and with a chicken co-star too!) here.

The series has already received glowing reviews. Christopher Vourlias describes it as ‘a quirky, colourful murder mystery’ and his Variety  piece includes an interview with producer Thierry Cassuto. Roslyn Sulcas praised it in The New York Times writing: ‘The TV series offers the same mix of human drama, gorgeous landscape, local colour and mouth-watering cooking, quietly threaded through with the more serious issues of domestic abuse, racial inequality and the legacies of apartheid… Despite the murders and simmering racial undertones, the show keeps its warm, humorous tone through the quiet, grounded character of Maria, with her empathetic, practical advice – and recipes – in response to the letters she receives.’

Based on the bestselling series debut by Sally Andrew, RECIPES FOR LOVE AND MURDER follows Tannie Maria, a South African advice and food columnist, who finds herself caught up in the death of the husband of one of her correspondents.

What to Watch reviewer Ian MacEwan called the series ‘an unusual mix of food porn and murder mystery, in which cook turned agony Tannie (‘auntie’ in Afrikaans) Maria (Maria Doyle Kennedy) solves crimes, in between sharing her mouth-watering culinary creations.’ You can watch many of the recipes, which also feature in the novels, being prepared step by step onscreen!

As an example, you can catch a glimpse of an episode here – and watch out for Morag’s entrance!

 Filmed in South Africa and Scotland, the series is a co-production between M-Net, AMC Networks’ Acorn TV, and Both Worlds Pictures, in co-operation with Global Screen. Thierry Cassuto, who founded the International Emmy-nominated Cape Town-based Both Worlds Pictures, produced the series in collaboration with Scotland’s Pirate Productions, with development support provided by Creative Scotland, and Paris-based Paradoxal.

The show was adapted for TV by Karen Jeynes, who is also executive producer, along with Scotland-based writer-director Annie Griffin. The series was directed by Christiaan Olwagen and Karen Jeynes.

The full Tannie Maria book series – RECIPES FOR LOVE AND MURDER, THE SATANIC MECHANIC, DEATH ON THE LIMPOPO and THE MILK TART MURDERS – is published by Umuzi (Penguin Random House SA) in South Africa, and the first two books are available from Canongate in the UK and Ecco Press in the US among others – with more news to follow. The Tannie Maria series titles are all bestsellers in South Africa – regularly in the Top 5, with the fourth book, THE MILK TART MURDERS, shooting straight to the top of the combined fiction and non-fiction charts on publication in March 2022.

See here for a letter to Tannie Maria asking for advice, along with Tannie Maria’s response, excerpted from RECIPES FOR LOVE AND MURDER – along with a lamb curry recipe.

And you can watch Sally Andrew herself talking about the film adaptation, the script, some of its characters and stars and what’s she learned from Tannie Maria here. 



About Sally Andrew

Sally Andrew divides her time between the Cape Town coast and a nature reserve near the small town of Ladismith in the Klein Karoo, South Africa, the setting of her hugely popular Tannie Maria novels. She lives with her wildlife artist partner, among various wild creatures (including, as she says, ‘a giant eland and a secretive leopard’). Sally has also published a number of non-fiction books on adult and environmental education.



Praise for RECIPES FOR LOVE AND MURDER TV show

‘The TV series offers the same mix of human drama, gorgeous landscape, local colour and mouth-watering cooking, quietly threaded through with the more serious issues of domestic abuse, racial inequality and the legacies of apartheid… Despite the murders and simmering racial undertones, the show keeps its warm, humorous tone through the quiet, grounded character of Maria, with her empathetic, practical advice – and recipes – in response to the letters she receives.’ – Roslyn Sulcas, The New York Times

 ‘A quirky, colourful murder mystery set in the South African outback.’ – Christopher Vourlias, Variety

 ‘The highly watchable Maria Doyle Kennedy takes the lead in this very fun and quirky crime series, which is based on the book of the same name by Sally Andrew. Tannie Maria (Doyle Kennedy) is a recipe-creator-turned-advice-columnist who gets caught up in a murder mystery based on one of the letters she receives for her column. Teaming up with an investigative journalist to get to the bottom of the case, the pair clash with local police as they run amok across crime scenes.’ – Jenna Guillaume, Flicks, ‘7 TV shows arriving in September that we’re excited for’

 

Visit Sally’s website.

Follow Sally on Instagram and Twitter.

Lyndall Gordon on T.S. Eliot in new book THE HYACINTH GIRL and The Waste Land documentary

Last week Lyndall Gordon’s THE HYACINTH GIRL: T.S. Eliot’s Hidden Muse was published by Virago in the UK in a beautiful hardback edition. Norton will publish in the US in November 2022. Colm Tóibín has hailed it as ‘brilliant … a rare work of sympathy and insight’ and Pulitzer finalist and Sylvia Plath biographer Heather Clark called it a ‘brilliant and revelatory work from one of our greatest biographers’, adding that ‘there is no finer guide into the mind of T.S. Eliot than Lyndall Gordon.’

This week Lyndall Gordon also appears in a new documentary about Eliot’s The Waste Land, which forms part of programming across BBC television and radio designed to celebrate the centenary of the publication of Eliot’s great long poem, The Waste Land. Directed by Susanna White, ‘T.S. Eliot – Into The Waste Land’, uncovers for the first time the hidden personal story behind Eliot’s creation of his celebrated poem. The documentary airs on BBC2 on Thursday 13th October at 9pm and is an Oxford Films production for the BBC, commissioned by BBC Arts Editor Mark Bell and produced by Rosie Alison and executive producer Nick Kent. You can watch the documentary here: www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001d1yy/ts-eliot-into-the-waste-land

Along with Lyndall’s illuminating insights, there are contributions from actor and director Fiona Shaw and composer Max Richter; poets Hannah Sullivan and Daljit Nagra; Vivien Eliot's biographer Ann Pasternak Slater and Faber Poetry Editor Matthew Hollis, among others. Simon Russell Beale performs specially recorded readings of the poem, in conjunction with Eliot's own reading of his work. Moving through all five sections of the poem, the documentary explores many different facets of The Waste Land, from Eliot's state of mind during each phase, to the different places where it was composed.

Jahan Ramazani, author of POETRY IN A GOLDEN AGE wrote this of Lyndall’s work: ‘Beautifully written, fiercely honest, THE HYACINTH GIRL permanently dissolves the myth of impersonality, fathoming the vexed, tormented emotional life behind Eliot’s work.’

Among the greatest of poets, T. S. Eliot protected his privacy while publicly associated with three women: two wives and a church-going companion. At the same time he concealed a life-long love for a fourth woman, Emily Hale, a drama teacher to whom he wrote (and later suppressed) over a thousand letters. Hale was the source of ‘memory and desire’ in The Waste Land – as Lyndall writes, she is ‘the Hyacinth Girl’, in the memorable phrase from Eliot’s work.

Drawing on the dramatic new material of the recently unsealed 1,131 letters Eliot wrote to Hale, Lyndall Gordon reveals a hidden Eliot. In The Telegraph, Frances Wilson speaks of Lyndall Gordon’s ‘subtle readings’ and ‘customary care and delicacy’ in sifting through the documents and ‘tracing Hale’s influence throughout Eliot’s poetry’. In THE HYACINTH GIRL, Emily Hale is shown to be a quiet yet vital force, a consistently important woman in Eliot’s life – and his art. Gordon also offers new insight into the other spirited women who shaped him: Vivienne, the flamboyant wife with whom he shared a private wasteland; Mary Trevelyan, his companion in prayer; and Valerie Fletcher, the young disciple to whom he proposed when his relationship with Emily foundered, and with whom he lived happily till his death. Eliot kept these women in his life very separate, as each ignited his transformations as poet, expatriate, convert, and, finally, in his latter years, a man `made for love’.

Listen to Lyndall Gordon talking about The Waste Land on Woman’s Hour (at 46 minutes) in September, and Susanna White talking about the BBC documentary on the Today programme (at 2 hours 55 minutes).

Further Praise for THE HYACINTH GIRL

‘The true nature of T. S. Eliot's love for his American muse, Emily Hale, has been nearly wholly hidden until now.  In THE HYACINTH GIRL, Lyndall Gordon paints an astute portrait of Eliot as a man trapped between desire and propriety, between a past history of emotional damage and a seemingly impossible future of romantic contentment. Gordon illuminates Eliot's writing through the prism of his correspondence with Hale, demonstrating how central she is to a real understanding of the man and his work. A revelatory book.’ – Erica Wagner, author MARY AND MR ELIOT

'An illuminating account' – Publishers Weekly

‘There is no finer guide into the mind of T.S. Eliot than Lyndall Gordon... Thanks to Gordon’s meticulous research and inspired storytelling, we will never read these poems the same way again… Emily Hale, too, finally gets her due in this brilliant and revelatory work from one of our greatest biographers.’ – Heather Clark, author of the Pulitzer Prize finalist RED COMET: THE SHORT LIFE AND BLAZING ART OF SYLVIA PLATH

‘Extraordinary… THE HYACINTH GIRL is a rare work of sympathy and insight. Lyndall Gordon's passionately intelligent engagement with the letters between T.S. Eliot and Emily Hale is matched by her close reading of Eliot's poems. Her ability to see both complexity and simplicity in the relationship between Eliot and Hale means that their entangled world comes fully alive in this brilliant book.’ – Colm Tóibín, author of THE MAGICIAN

‘Gordon sifts through the remaining documents with her customary care and delicacy … tracing Hale’s influence throughout the poetry, aware that her interpretations of character are based on one side of a correspondence… Gordon’s subtle readings never lose sight of the central mystery: why did Hale stay in a relationship that offered no future? The answer is that the letters had become her life, and it was as evidence of that that she chose to save them.’ – Frances Wilson, The Telegraph

‘Often in biography the supporting cast is forgotten once the author’s gaze moves on and women can be ignored in favour of the men who play more traditional roles. This is not the case with THE HYACINTH GIRL … Gordon, in her tracing of Hale’s life to its end – she never married and pursued a career as a teacher, actor and director – reminds us that she lived her own life, made her own choices and ‘would not want our pity’. She may have been Eliot’s Hyacinth girl but she was considerably more.  These books don’t undermine Eliot’s life or his achievement. Instead, they set him in a wider context, connecting him to the women who contributed so much to his success and paid a high price for doing so.’ – Tom Williams, The Spectator

‘An indispensable study that will inspire new perspectives on Eliot’s life and work for generations to come.’ – Anita Patterson, Professor of English, Boston University

‘THE HYACINTH GIRL is an elegant meditation on the women whose lives were fundamental to the life of T. S. Eliot. Lyndall Gordon has given us the fullest account yet of Eliot’s strained and distant relationship with his onetime sweetheart Emily Hale… Together with her account of Eliot’s subsequent marriage to Valerie Fletcher, who had been his secretary, these give a painfully intimate look at the poet, one that also results in significant reassessments of his most imposing poems.’ – Michael North, Professor of English, University of California, and editor of the NORTON CRITICAL EDITION OF THE WASTE LAND AND OTHER POEMS

‘Like an unopened Egyptian tomb, a trove of TS Eliot’s letters has lurked for decades in the Princeton Library. Lyndall Gordon has now cracked it open, and in THE HYACINTH GIRL reveals a treasure of new insights into this most emblematic modern poet. If you thought you knew Eliot, think again.’ – Benjamin Moser, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of SONTAG: HER LIFE AND WORK 

‘In an engrossing study of art refracting life, Lyndall Gordon explores the conflicted emotions that Eliot translated into his ostensibly impersonal art.’ – Leo Damrosch, author of ADVENTURER: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GIACOMO CASANOVA

About Lyndall Gordon

A much-celebrated biographer, Lyndall Gordon lives in Oxford. Her ability to make the subjects of her biographies come vividly to life has won her many literary awards, including the Cheltenham Prize and the James Tait Black prize. She has also been longlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize and shortlisted for the Duff Cooper Prize and the Comisso Prize in Italy for her Emily Dickinson biography LIVE LIKE LOADED GUNS.

Her previous biographical work on T.S. Eliot – two biographies, ELIOT’S EARLY YEARS and ELIOT’S NEW LIFE, incorporated into an updated edition, THE IMPERFECT LIFE OF T.S. ELIOT – won the British Academy's Rose Mary Crawshay Prize and Southern Arts prize. THE IMPERFECT LIFE OF T.S Eliot was also selected by the New York Public Library as one of 25 'Books to Remember' from 2000 and by the Independent on Sunday as one of the '30 best biographies of the twentieth century'. Translator Xu Xiaofan won the Lu Xun Literary Prize for her translation of THE IMPERFECT LIFE OF T.S. ELIOT, published in China by Shanghai Literature and Art.

Candia McWilliam calls Lyndall Gordon 'a rare phenomenon: a biographer whose preoccupations and authorial career reveal a flowering towards imaginative truth.' Brenda Maddox talks of her 'adventurous scholarship'.

Visit Lyndall Gordon’s website here.