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Picador has acquired the next novel by Orange Prize-shortlisted novelist Ellen Feldman, with the title to be set in the paranoid America of the Cold War.
Editorial director Francesca Main bought UK and Commonwealth rights in the new novel, The Unwitting, through Veronique Baxter at David Higham Associates, who struck the deal on behalf of the Emma Sweeney Agency.
The Unwitting is set in 1963 at the height of McCarthyism, as Nell discovers, following her husband's sudden death, that the magazine they both worked for is actually a front for the CIA, and he was a witting participant.
Main said: "Few writers balance intimate stories of fully-realised characters with fascinating social, cultural and political backdrops quite so beautifully and intelligently as Ellen Feldman. As both an illuminating portrait of America during the cold war . . . and an emotive and utterly absorbing portrait of a marriage, The Unwitting will be an absolute tour de force."
Feldman's previous two novels are Scottsboro and Next To Love, with Scottsboro shortlisted for the 2009 Orange Prize.