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Picador has bought a “major American novel” for a six-figure pre-empt.
Publisher Paul Baggaley acquired UK and Commonwealth rights in All Involved by Ryan Gattis from Lizzy Kremer at David Higham.
All Involved is set over the six days of the Los Angeles riots, after Rodney King's LAPD assailants were acquitted. The novel begins with the gangland slaying of an innocent man on the first day of the riots, which sets off a dramatic sequence of events.
It follows 17 people caught up in the chaos, primarily Chicano gang members, but also firefighters, nurses, ambulance men and graffiti artists. Exploring the ignored subculture of the Latino street gangs of LA and the racial complexities of the city of Los Angeles, there are strong themes of race, family, violence, vengeance and the yearning for a better life, said Picador.
Baggaley said: “From the first paragraph I was completely blown away by this astonishing novel. There is total authenticity in the voice, and the story-telling is both compelling and visceral. This is one of the most ambitious and fully achieved novels I have read in years, and I couldn’t be more excited at the prospect of publishing what I believe will become an enduring classic of modern American fiction.”
The novel has also sold in north America, and been pre-empted in Sweden, Brazil and Italy, and has sold at auction in France, Germany, Finland and the Netherlands.
Gattis is a writer, creative writing lecturer and co-founder of a publishing collective.
Picador will publish All Involved in Spring 2015.