Corsair snaps up debut from 'writer to watch' Miriam Robinson

Corsair is to publish And Notre Dame is Burning, the debut novel by book trade marketeer Miriam Robinson.  

Sarah Castleton, deputy publisher at the Little, Brown imprint, acquired UK and Commonwealth rights from Becky Thomas at Lewinsohn Literary.  It will publish in hardback and e-book on 7th August 2025. 

Dubbed “a writer to watch” by Castleton, Robinson’s book is written in fragments, notes and letters, “an excavation of separation, of motherhood, of betrayal, of guilt and consequence, of love coming to an end”.

Corsair said: “Protagonist Esther’s storybook marriage begins in the shadow of Notre Dame cathedral and ends as its flames rise above Paris. She filters through the ashes of years past, seeking help – from generations of women, from a book about evolution, from a friendly philosopher/scientist. Mostly, though, she writes: tracing a fine line between a story that soothes and one that suffocates, working things out one sentence at a time.” 

Castleton said: “And Notre Dame is Burning  is a thrilling reading experience – inward, bodily, timeless and powerful – about what happens when the stories that have held a person’s life in order are set alight by betrayal and loss of the most intimate and eviscerating kind, throwing memory, truth, and time into tailspin. It is a moving depiction of a mother’s anxieties for her daughter in this powder-keg of conflict and confusion: what do we pass down, how and for whose benefit?  

“These fragments of Esther’s life dart back and forth as she reaches for understanding amid disorder; and in the end, via some kind of narrative alchemy, she discovers a revelatory sense of selfhood – womanhood – and a radical way of connecting to her daughter. It is a stunning piece of writing.” 

Robinson is a freelance creative consultant in the book trade. She is a former bookseller and head of marketing at Foyles, and works as part of the core team for The Bookseller’s The British Book Awards, as programme director for The Bookseller Marketing & Publicity Conference and with the Booker Prize, the Jhalak Prize and National Book Tokens. She is also creator and host of the podcast My Unlived Life. 

Robinson said: “I hope that bookshops and readers connect with Esther and her rambles through the marshes as she tries, fails and tries again to write her new story. Stories have always been a huge part of my life, and I’ve been lucky enough to work with incredible people across the book trade over the years who work to bring those stories to readers. It’s thrilling now to see that work done from the author’s point of view and I’m feeling wildly lucky that my indefatigable agent Becky found a home for my book with Sarah, Zoe, Lilly and the Corsair team.”