You are viewing your 1 free article this month. Login to read more articles.
British novelist Jonathan Lee has moved from William Heinemann to Granta for his next two novels following “a closely fought” auction.
Senior commissioning editor Anne Meadows acquired UK and Commonwealth rights to The Great Mistake and an as-yet-untitled novel from Tracy Bohan at the Wylie Agency following the two-publisher tussle. US rights were sold to Diana Tejerina Millera at Knopf in a substantial pre-empt, rights have also been sold to Diogenes Verlag (German) and Big SUR (Italian).
Lee’s previous three novels - High Dive, Joy and Who is Mr Satoshi? - were all published by William Heinemann.
Set at the dawn of the 20th century, The Great Mistake is based on the true story of the so-called father of New York City, Andrew Haswell Green, and “his mysterious assassination at the venerable age of 83 and hidden life”.
Meadows said: “Without Andrew Haswell Green there would be no Central Park, no Metropolitan Museum of Art, and no New York Public Library, but beyond his public persona Green led a curtailed life - a childhood defined by loss, a painful climb from poverty to the upper echelons of New York society, and a complicated friendship that made and marked him in equal measure. Lee brings all of this to life, along with the magical and startling transformation of Manhattan from jumbled, littered prospect to a glittering world of money and hope.”
She added: “The Great Mistake is a richly textured, sumptuous novel of an abundant city and a circumscribed life that will appeal to fans of Francis Spufford and Michael Chabon. I am immensely proud that we’ll be publishing it, and Jonathan’s next novel, and very happy to be welcoming him to the Granta list.”
Lee, who lives in New York where he is editor-in-chief of Catapult Books, said: “I’m thrilled by the prospect of being published by Granta, sharing space on a list that publishes some of the very best literary writers around, and by a superb editor there such as Anne.”