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Pan Macmillan has pre-empted world rights to an “incredibly smart and heartbreaking” debut by Charlotte Levin.
Wayne Brookes, associate publisher for fiction, snapped up the rights for An Explanation of Love from Jo Williamson, agent at Antony Harwood Limited. It will be published in hardback by Mantle in July 2020 with a paperback to follow in January 2021.
Its synopsis explains: “An Explanation of Love tells the heart-breaking story of Constance Little, a young woman who develops an infatuation for Samuel, the new doctor at the private medical practice where she works. When he ends their brief yet passionate affair, past wounds arising from her mother’s death and father’s abandonment come to the fore, and love morphs into obsession, then into hate. Because for Constance Little…it’s never over.”
Brookes said: “An Explanation of Love is quite simply a triumph and Constance Little is one of those characters we fall in love with for all the right and some very wrong reasons. You sit on the edge of your seat wondering what she will do next, and hoping she won’t do that, whatever that is. This novel is part thriller and part human interest story. It’s character-driven fiction at its very best; an incredibly smart and heart-breaking debut. I’m ecstatic to welcome Charlotte to Pan Mac.”
Levin has been shortlisted for the Andrea Badenoch Award, part of the New Writers North Awards, and for the Mslexia Short Story Competition. Aside from being a writer she is the director of an exhibitions company and lives in Manchester.
She said: “I’m delighted and honoured to have the opportunity to be working with Pan Macmillan and Wayne Brookes. It was clear from the outset that Wayne and I were in tune about the book and I can’t imagine a better home for it. Constance is a character who is capable of dreadful things yet is someone whom the reader can hopefully both empathise with and relate to. I can’t wait to introduce her to the world.”