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Jonathan Cape will publish award-winning writer James Scudamore’s latest novel, English Monsters, about a group of friends who must navigate “ugly, alarming truths” about their old school.
Nick Skidmore, senior editor at Vintage, acquired UK and Commonwealth rights excluding Canada from Clare Alexander at Aitken Alexander Associates, for publication in March 2020. “A beautifully told, decade-spanning story of friendship forged in scandal, English Monsters follows a close-knit group of classmates as they try to navigate the anger and questions that stalk them in the wake of revelations about their old school.”
It is Scudamore’s first book for seven years, his others include The Amnesia Clinic, Heliopolis and Wreaking (all published by Vintage). He has received the Somerset Maugham Award and been nominated for the Costa First Novel Award, the Commonwealth Writers' Prize, the Dylan Thomas Prize and the Man Booker Prize.
“English Monsters is a story born of ugly, alarming truths, but in the telling James has crafted a novel that is both heart-breaking and bracing,” Skidmore said. “James’ novel is explosive for what it has to say about the boarding school system and its lasting effect on those that went through it, and yet at its heart English Monsters is one of the most deeply affecting portraits of male friendship and connection I have read. English Monsters marks a brilliant new phase in James’ career and we’re thrilled to be publishing it at Jonathan Cape.”
Scudamore said: “It’s an honour and a thrill to be joining the Cape list alongside so many wonderful writers whose work I've long admired. English Monsters could not have found a better home.”