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Freak show tale bags six-figure deal

10.04.12 | Charlotte Williams

Hot pre-Fair debut The Palace of Curiosities by poet and performance artist Rosie Garland has been snapped up by HarperCollins.

HarperFiction deputy publishing director Katie Espiner paid a six-figure sum for UK and Commonwealth rights, including Canada, in two books, through Charlotte Robertson at Aitken Alexander. 

The novel won Mslexia's inaugural Women's Novel Competition last September. The plot is inspired by "freak show" performer Julia Pastrana, who suffered from hypertrichosis terminalis, where the body is completely covered in thick hair. She was discovered by a man who taught her to sing and dance, toured the world with her, and eventually married her.
 

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