Lessons in Chemistry author Bonnie Garmus moves to Bonnier with 'irresistible' second book
Lessons in Chemistry author Bonnie Garmus, is moving from Transworld to Manilla Press, an imprint of Bonnier Books UK, for her second novel Peck & Peck.
Sarah Benton, co-CEO of Bonnier Books UK, and Sophie Orme, publisher at Manilla Press, acquired UK & Commonwealth rights (excluding Canada and Europe) to Peck & Peck from Felicity Blunt at Curtis Brown.
The book will also be published in the US by Scribner and in Canada by Simon & Schuster Canada.
Piper (part of BonnierMedia Germany) will publish in both German and English across Europe. The partnership is a first between the two sister companies, which the publisher said "echoes the spirit of collaboration across the wider Bonnier Books Group".
The author enjoys a close relationship with her German publisher Piper (part of BonnierMedia Germany), which sold 1.2 million copies of her debut in the German-language market alone, more than any other publisher.
Garmus’ move from Transworld to Bonnier Books UK will enable Piper to publish Peck & Peck in both German and English across Europe (excluding Ireland), something which would not have been possible previously, as PRH doesn’t buy English-language rights just for the UK where Europe is carved out.
Rights have also been sold in France (Laffont), Italy (Rizzoli), Spain (Planeta – Seix Barral), Sweden (Wahlström & Widstrand, Bonnier) and the Netherlands (Meulenhoff Boekerij) with more to follow.
The synopsis says: "Batter Gray is worried about his future. Even when he was 11, his classmates seemed to have settled on a goal: doctor, lawyer, broker, engineer. Good jobs that automatically command respect and security. Now Batter is in his early 20s, living in New York City, and he wants something different; something that alienates some people and bores most. Poetry. And yet – to him and exactly 39 editors at a company called Peck & Peck – poetry not only represents the power of humanity, but holds the key to its survival. Batter was named after his mother’s dog, who seemed to have achieved more in his short years on earth than he ever will. But as an identical twin who lost his brother at birth, Batter finds himself confronted by the everyday dualities that make up life: right vs. wrong, truth vs. lies, rejection vs. acceptance. It is almost as if his dead brother is a reminder: there are always two sides to every story. No, wait. Make that three."
Garmus said: "At a time when AI threatens to bury the creative industry, going into the arts seems especially risky. But the truth is, we need the arts and artists more than ever. Peck & Peck is all about the unsung heroes who create, who originate, who think, but it is also about those who protect and promote this work – in a word: editors. I couldn’t be more thrilled to be partnering with the highly creative minds at Manilla Press to bring this novel into the world."
Blunt said: "This is a extraordinary novel that, on finishing, will leave you cherishing and determined to safeguard all that is brilliant and original to humankind. There are sentences from this book that will stay with me forever. I am so excited for Bonnier to bring Peck & Peck to the world."
Benton and Orme said: "Before we opened the pages of Peck & Peck it was hard to imagine how Bonnie could follow a book as special as Lessons in Chemistry. But this utterly irresistible tale of a young man whose life turns upside down when he is hired by the most prestigious, secretive and dysfunctional poetry journal in the world held us all spellbound. Hugely original, brilliantly funny and peopled with unforgettable characters, Peck & Peck is both a passionate ode to the written word and a heartwarming exploration of all that makes us human. And just as with Elizabeth Zott, everyone will remember what they were doing when they first met Batter Gray."
Peck & Peck will be published in hardback, e-book and audiobook on 27th October 2026.
