HoZ snaps up Galley's 'brilliant' holiday debut

Head of Zeus digital imprint Aria has acquired The Second Chance Holiday Club, a "brilliant" debut by Kate Galley. 

The deal for world English language rights was brokered between editorial director Rachel Faulkner-Willcocks and Robbie Guillory of the Underline Literary Agency. Head of Zeus will publish in December 2022. 

The novel follows the unexpected adventures of 76-year-old Evelyn Pringle, whose world is turned upside down when her husband dies. Among his belongings she finds a revelatory letter addressed to another woman on the Isle of Wight, which she decides to deliver by hand.

"I fell in love with prickly Evelyn Pringle from page one of this brilliant book," said Faulkner-Willcocks. "She’s spent her whole life unknowingly living in the shadow of her husband. She assumes his untimely death will be the beginning of the end for her – but through her sheer tenacity and stubbornness, and with the help of the wonderful characters she meets on her journey, she comes to realise that her real life is only just beginning. Kate Galley has written the ultimate coming of ‘old’ age story, and I can’t wait to introduce readers to Evelyn later this year."

In addition to her writing, Galley works as a mobile hairdresser in the Chiltern villages. Her debut was inspired by one client’s Christmas coach trip.

"It was very important to me to have the voice of the older generation in my novel," she said. "I’m continually fascinated by the stories they tell me and the diverse and interesting lives they live. I am absolutely delighted that The Second Chance Holiday Club has found its home with Aria, and also to be working with the wonderful Rachel Faulkner-Willcocks. Her vision for the novel couldn’t be more aligned with my own."