CASE STUDY by Graeme Macrae Burnet longlisted for 2023 Dublin Literary Award

We are delighted that Graeme Macrae Burnet’s highly acclaimed novel CASE STUDY has been longlisted for the 2023 Dublin Literary Award. This follows a whole raft of nominations and accolades last year including the 2022 Booker Prize longlist, the shortlists for the 2022 Gordon Burn Prize and 2022 Ned Kelly Award and the ‘Best of 2022’ lists for The Times and The New York Times – and more!

The Dublin Literary Award is the world’s most valuable annual prize for a single work of fiction published in English, with a prize of €100,000 for the winner. Its aim is to promote excellence in world literature and its longlist is decided by libraries throughout the world, with titles nominated on the basis of ‘high literary merit’. There are seventy titles on this year’s longlist with titles such as YOUNG MUNGO by Douglas Stuart and BURNTCOAT by Sarah Hall being included. You can see the full longlist here.

Speaking at the launch of the longlist, Lord Mayor of Dublin Cllr. Caroline Conroy said ‘This year’s Dublin Literary Award longlist is a fascinating chain of stories unifying readers across cultures and countries, more relevant now than ever before. I encourage you to drop into your local library to explore the list over the next few months, it not only rewards the reader but also has the power to transform you too.’

The shortlist will be revealed on 28 March and the winner announced on 25 May as part of the International Literature Festival of Dublin.

CASE STUDY was published to great acclaim in 2021 by Saraband Books in the UK, with audio rights going to Bolinda. To date, translation rights have been sold in 18 countries, with Text publishing in Australia and Biblioasis in North America.

Through a series of notebooks, CASE STUDY follows the story of a young woman who, convinced that the psychotherapist Arthur Collins Braithwaite is responsible for her sister's suicide, assumes a fake identity and presents herself to him as a patient so she can find out the truth about her sister. What ensues is a thrilling game of cat and mouse between therapist and patient, as well as writer and reader.

Written using Burnet’s distinctive flair for character and plot, this dazzling, dizzying novel is an extraordinary mediation on sanity, identity and truth itself.

About Graeme Macrae Burnet

Graeme Macrae Burnet was brought up Kilmarnock, Ayrshire and now lives in Glasgow. He has also lived in the Czech Republic, France, Portugal and London. He has appeared at festivals and events in Australia, New Zealand, the US, Russia, Estonia, Macau, Ireland, Germany and France, as well as in the UK. He has also been shortlisted for many European and American literary awards.

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, the year he won Author of the Year for the Sunday Herald Culture Awards.

HIS BLOODY PROJECT (Contraband, 2015) won the Saltire Society Fiction Book of the Year Award, and was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and the LA Times Book Awards. It has been published to great acclaim around the world and film rights have been optioned by Synchronicity.

Praise for CASE STUDY

‘CASE STUDY by Graeme Macrae Burnet is complex, funny and scary. After the ingenuity of HIS BLOODY PROJECT, set in remote 19th-century Scotland, who would imagine he could pull off the same trick twice with the cultish anti-psychiatry scene of 1960s London? Mind-blowing.’ – Peter Brookes, The Times, ‘Favourite Books of 2022’

‘Did an unorthodox therapist drive a woman to suicide? This novel of purportedly found documents, including journals and biographical interludes, takes on this psychological mystery while exploring through its nested narratives the possibilities of fiction.’ – New York Times, ‘Notable Books of 2022’

‘A novel of mind-bending brilliance. Graeme Macrae Burnet is a master of muddying the waters, of troubling ideas of truth and identity, fiction and documentary, and CASE STUDY shows him at the height of his powers.’ – Hannah Kent

‘A thrilling investigation into sanity and identity.’ – Alice O’Keeffe, The Bookseller

‘CASE STUDY is above all a very funny book, a wry look back at 60s counterculture in which Burnet’s inventions rub shoulders with real personalities… If Burnet’s aim in writing CASE STUDY was to force us up against the contradictions of our conflicted selves, he has surely succeeded. This is a novel that is entertaining and mindfully engrossing in equal measure.’ – Nina Allan, Guardian, ‘Book of the Day'

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SIX DAYS by Dani Atkins shortlisted for 2023 Romantic Novel Awards

SIX DAYS by Dani Atkins has been shortlisted for the Jackie Collins Award for Romantic Thrillers in the 2023 Romantic Novel Awards.

Launched in 1960, the Romantic Novel Awards celebrate excellence in romantic fiction in all its forms, while the Jackie Collins Award specifically rewards stories that intertwine romance with thriller or suspense elements. The other shortlisted titles for the Jackie Collins Award are: COLD SILENCE by Toni Anderson, MY OTHER HUSBAND by Dorothy Koomson, THE SERIAL KILLER’S GIRL by L.H. Stacey and A MURDER OF CROWS by Sarah Yarwood-Lovett.

Dani is already a recipient of two Romantic Novel Awards, with THIS LOVE winning the Romantic Novel of the Year Award in 2018 and A SKY FULL OF STARS winning the Contemporary Award for Romantic Fiction in 2021.

The winners of the 2023 awards will be announced on the Monday 6th March 2023.

SIX DAYS was published in paperback by Head of Zeus earlier this month, and in hardback in April 2022. It follows Gemma in the aftermath of her disastrous wedding where her beloved fiancé didn’t show. She is sure that Finn would never jilt her – so where is he? She has six days to find him before it's too late…

Dani is currently working on her next novel, which will be published by Head of Zeus in 2024.

About Dani Atkins

Dani Atkins was born in London, and grew up in Cockfosters, Hertfordshire. She now lives in a 350-year-old cottage with her husband, one Siamese cat and a very soppy Border Collie.

Dani has been writing for fun all her life but, following the 2013 publication of her novel FRACTURED, made writing her full-time career. FRACTURED has since been published in sixteen languages and has sold more than half a million copies since first publication in the UK.

Dani is the author of many other bestselling novels (THE WEDDING DRESS, A SKY FULL OF STARS, A MILLION DREAMS, THE STORY OF US, OUR SONG, THIS LOVE and WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING) and PERFECT STRANGERS, a standalone eBook novella.

Praise for SIX DAYS

‘SIX DAYS starts where most romantic fiction ends, at the altar, but this is neither a straightforward wedding day, nor a straightforward love story. Gemma and Finn have hit several speed-bumps during their lives but she is convinced that he genuinely loves her and when he disappears on their wedding day, may be the only one who still believes in him. A tender and emotional tale, SIX DAYS will have readers frantically turning the pages to see if Gemma's faith in Finn is justified.’ – Sinead Crowley

‘Guaranteed to keep late night page-turners agog, Dani Atkins gives us a heroine who takes nothing lying down, not even being abandoned at the altar. I loved Gemma’s tenacity. Trusting to the power of love is tougher than it looks, as this delicious romantic mystery proves.’ – Fiona Walker

‘A well-paced, good-natured and emotional novel.’ – Wendy Holden, The Daily Mail

‘A page-turner that packs a real emotional punch.’ – Zoe West, Women’s Weekly

‘Emotional and compelling.’ – Claire Frost, Fabulous Magazine

Follow Dani on Twitter and Instagram.

Sourcebooks triumphs in auction for THE RESORT by Sara Ochs

Kate Burke has sold US rights to Sara Ochs’ unputdownable debut thriller THE RESORT and a second unnamed novel to MJ Johnston at Sourcebooks for a significant six-figure sum. THE RESORT will be published in hardback this Autumn.

THE RESORT is set at a scuba diving school on one of Thailand’s world-famous party islands – a place where backpackers go to find themselves or get lost for ever. When a young woman is found dead during a scuba diving lesson, the morning after a full moon party, the diving instructor and her group of ex-pat friends realise they aren’t the only people who have fallen in love with paradise. A killer has too.

Rights have already been sold to this exciting debut in pre-empts or at auction in the United Kingdom, Germany, Finland, Holland and Russia. The UK hardback edition will be published in July by Transworld as THE DIVE.

About Sara Ochs

Sara Ochs is an attorney, law professor, and author who splits her time between the United States and Sweden. When she’s not writing psychological thrillers set in far-flung destinations, Sara can usually be found on a flight with a glass of wine in one hand and a novel in the other.

Praise for THE DIVE

‘THE DIVE is an escapist, up-all-night thriller that holds you under and doesn’t let you surface for air until the very final page. Utterly compelling!’ – Lucy Clarke, Sunday Times Top Ten bestselling author of ONE OF THE GIRLS

‘A compelling and accomplished debut, perfect for fans of Ruth Ware and Lucy Foley.’ – Steve Cavanagh, Sunday Times bestselling author of THIRTEEN

‘A deadly, dangerous, beautiful nightmare. THE DIVE will leave you breathless yet gasping for more.’ – Chris Whitaker

‘THE DIVE turns paradise into a nightmare… and I loved every minute of it… I was captivated by Sara’s writing and can’t wait to see what she does next.’ – Amy McCulloch, author of BREATHLESS

Follow Sara on Twitter and Instagram.

Visit Sara’s website.

THE HYACINTH GIRL by Lyndall Gordon longlisted for 2023 PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for Biography

Lyndall Gordon’s ground-breaking biography THE HYACINTH GIRL: T. S. Eliot’s Hidden Muse has been longlisted for the 2023 PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for Biography.

The PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for Biography was established in 2008 by Rodman L. Drake and awards excellence in biography writing. The winning title is considered by the judges to be a work of ‘exceptional literary, narrative, and artistic merit, based on scrupulous research’, with previous winners including the likes of Amy Stanley’s STRANGER IN THE SHOGUN’S CITY and LOOKING FOR LORRAINE by Imani Perry.

The finalists for the 2023 award will be announced in early February and the winner revealed at the annual PEN America Literary Awards Ceremony at New York’s Town Hall on the 2nd of March. The other shortlisted titles for the 2023 award are as follows: AN AMERICAN MARTYR IN PERSIA: The Epic Life and Tragic Death of Howard Baskerville by Reza Aslan, CIVIL RIGHTS QUEEN: Constance Baker Motley and the Struggle for Equality by Tomiko Brown-Nagin, DILLA TIME: The Life and Afterlife of J Dilla, the Hip-Hop Producer Who Reinvented Rhythm by Dan Charnas, THE ADVENTURES OF HERBIE COHEN by Rich Cohen, G-MAN: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century by Beverly Gage, GURU TO THE WORLD: The Life and Legacy of Vivekananda by Ruth Harris, MR. B: George Balachine’s 20th Century by Jennifer Homans, THE POPE AT WAR: The Secret History of Pius XII, Mussolini, and Hitler by David I. Kertzer, and SAXOPHONE COLOSSUS: The Life and Music of Sonny Rollins by Aidan Levy.

Drawing on the dramatic new material of the only recently unsealed 1,131 letters, THE HYACINTH GIRL casts new light on T. S. Eliot’s life and great poetry, and restores a quiet, talented woman to prominence in literary history.

Virago published the hardback edition of THE HYACINTH GIRL in the UK in October last year, while the American edition was published by W. W. Norton in November. It has received enormous acclaim – from fellow biographers as well as readers and critics – and was highlighted by many publications as being one of the best non-fiction titles of the year. The UK paperback edition will be published in August 2023.

Lyndall also recently appeared in a BBC 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 the celebrated poem. You can read more about the documentary here. Lyndall is one of the luminaries appearing at the T.S .Eliot Summer School in the UK, 8-16 July 2023.

Photo credit: Nina Hollington

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.

Praise for THE HYACINTH GIRL

‘Exemplary… revealed that the great man’s poetry was a lot less impersonal than he led us to believe.’ – Lucasta Miller, The Spectator, ‘Books of the Year’

 ‘A number of good books have marked the centenary of “The Waste Land”… but, for me, the most brilliant and incisive new book on Eliot is Lyndall Gordon’s The Hyacinth Girl: T.S. Eliot’s Hidden Muse, which looks at Eliot’s poetry in the light of his recently opened correspondence with Emily Hale.’ – Colm Tóibín, Irish Times, ‘Best Books of the Year’

‘Lyndall Gordon’s sensitive study of Emily Hale, Eliot’s childhood sweetheart in America’ – Iona McLaren, The Telegraph, ‘Best Biographies of 2022’

 ‘Gordon does an admirable job navigating the ambiguities of the tangled situations she chronicles; she is respectful of complications, of emotional messiness, of unusual attachments. She patiently evokes the intricacy and singularity of each intimate relationship. There is a human richness to Eliot’s cerebral poetry that we can appreciate more in the context of his knotted emotional life, and Gordon’s art is in drawing this out. She is also adept at mapping Eliot’s well-known religious and spiritual yearnings onto the sexual and emotional struggles that fed his beliefs. This is delicate and tricky work, if one is not overly reductive, and Gordon allows the reader to live with Eliot’s conflicts and contradictions. She is not interested in reducing or bludgeoning the mystery of his words, but in exploring layers and resonances.’ – Katie Roiphe, The New York Times

 ‘Exquisitely nuanced’ – Kathryn Hughes, Sunday Times

‘Lyndall Gordon is the first biographer to uncover the life of T.S. Eliot’s hidden muse, the inspiration of one of his greatest works of poetry …This is a work that will change the way that Eliot is seen.’ – Miranda Seymour, author of I USED TO LIVE HERE ONCE: THE HAUNTED LIFE OF JEAN RHYS

‘There is no finer guide into the mind of T.S. Eliot than Lyndall Gordon. Drawing upon Eliot’s newly unsealed letters to Emily Hale, THE HYACINTH GIRL reimagines one of the great literary love stories of the twentieth century… Thanks to Gordon’s meticulous research and inspired storytelling, we will never read these poems the same way again: It turns out that the great poet of ‘impersonality’ was baring his soul all along. 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

Visit Lyndall’s website.

Hodder takes four more adventures on the high seas from Stockwin

Hodder & Stoughton have signed four more books from Julian Stockwin for his classic maritime series starring Thomas Kydd.

Morgan Springett, Editor at Hodder & Stoughton, has acquired World English Language rights from Isobel Dixon, at the Blake Friedman Literary Agency.

With over half a million copies sold in the series to date, Stockwin is the undisputed master of the age of sail adventure. We are delighted that Hodder & Stoughton will continue to bring these books to readers all over the world, over 20 years since they published KYDD, the first book in the series. A number of titles have been translated into French, German, Portuguese, Russian and Japanese.

Stockwin’s series follows Thomas Kydd on his journey from pressed man to Admiral in the British Navy during the Great Age of Sail. It follows historical events incredibly closely, beginning in 1793, and is unusual in nautical fiction for the hero being an ordinary man forced into service, not an officer.

Springett says: ‘I’m hugely excited to work with Julian on his next four books. It’s an incredible achievement to have written such a long and exciting series. His fans are some of the most dedicated in publishing and have been following Kydd’s rise from pressed man to Captain for over 20 years now. I am thrilled to be able to continue the adventure.’

Stockwin says: ‘When I first began my working relationship with Hodder & Stoughton I doubt anyone, let alone myself, could envision the series growing to 29 titles with the signing of this latest contract. I am very privileged to be able to write about the glorious period in our sea history that so many are drawn to.’ 

Dixon says: ‘Julian Stockwin is a brilliant storyteller, bringing wonderful characters to life over this classic series. I know readers will be delighted that there is so much more to come for Kydd and his comrades – and adversaries! – and we look forward to working with the Hodder team and editor Morgan Springett on what lies ahead.’

About Julian Stockwin

Photo: Allan House

Author of the Thomas Kydd novels, a series of 25 volumes (to date) in which Kydd rises through the decks and his adventures take him around the world. Atmospheric, page-turning narrative, rich with action and great characterisation. Published in many countries around the world, this is the first series to highlight the common seaman in the greatest age of fighting sail.

At 14 Stockwin joined a tough sea-training school, followed by the Royal Navy, transferring to the Royal Australian Navy when his family emigrated. He saw active service in the Far East, the Antarctic, the South Seas and Vietnam, and was on board the Melbourne at the time of its disastrous peace time collision with the Voyager. Later he worked for NATO on the strategic deployment of merchant shipping.

Stockwin is also author of two novels in the Moments of History series, depicting important turning points in history. The first, THE SILK TREE, tells the dramatic story of how the secret of silk was brought from China to the West. This was followed by POWDER OF DEATH, which shows how the nature of warfare was changed forever by the discovery of gunpowder.

Hodder published YANKEE MISSION, the 25th book in the KYDD series, in October 2022, and Mobius Books will publish in North America on 24 January 2023. Stockwin is now writing BERMUDA STATION, the next book in the Kydd series.

Praise for the Kydd series

‘Very readable and enjoyable. I recommend that you go out, beg, borrow or buy, and enjoy.’ – Bernard Cornwell

‘Forrester, Kent, Pope, O'Brian all wrote outstanding tales around their commissioned heroes. From a unique starting point, Stockwin has become another member of the band of great naval fiction writers who have achieved the highest standards of storytelling.’ — Firetrench Reviews

‘The preeminent living historical naval fiction writer on either side of the Atlantic.’ – Quarterdeck

‘Stockwin, a career navy man, writes of the nautical life with vivid authority.’ – Kirkus Review

‘A master teller of grand historical fiction tales. Pick one, any one, and you will be highly entertained… He writes brilliantly, bringing wonderful characters to life.’ – Booksville

‘In his hands the sea story will continue to entrance readers across the world.’ – The Guardian

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