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Penguin pre-empts Emily Lloyd-Jones' two YA thrillers
Penguin Random House Children’s UK made a “lightning fast pre-empt" of two YA thrillers by American author Emily Lloyd-Jones.
The publisher pitched them as “game-changing” novels “that will keep readers guessing until the very last page”.
“The first novel, Augusta Pine Does Not Exist, is an edge-of-your-seat reverse heist thriller set in a dystopian world,” Penguin said. “It follows teen spy and hacker, Augusta Pine, who everyone presumes dead but now must outsmart a team of criminals to free a building of innocent hostages – and herself.”
Editorial director Amina Parchment-Youssef pre-empted UK and Commonwealth rights from Rachel Clements at Abner Stein, on behalf of Sarah Landis at Sterling Lord Literistic. Penguin will co-publish with Balzer + Bray, Macmillan Children’s US, launching Augusta Pine Does Not Exist globally in July 2026, with “a second standout” novel following in 2027, Penguin said.
The publisher added: “Masterfully weaving together the undercover secrecy of The Naturals series, the killer twists and turns of Five Survive and the futuristic setting of Cyberpunk 2077 [game], Augusta Pine Does Not Exist breaks the mould of YA thriller.”
The synopsis reads: “At 15, Augusta Pine (alias) hacked a car’s autopilot and accidentally killed her first crush. She was given two options: 1) spend 20 years in prison for manslaughter or 2) serve 10 years in the Identity Security Division as a ‘wraith’ – an undercover spy with no official existence. Augusta chose the second.
“Three years later, her family believes she died in the car crash, and her only friends are her coolly professional handler and a snarky AI spybot. When Augusta decides to take a weekend off and rent a room in a smart apartment complex, she doesn’t expect to come face-to-face with six cyber criminals who have hacked the building and imprisoned the residents. To save everyone, including herself, Augusta will have to rely on her wits and her own criminal skills to stay one step ahead of the killers. For the first time in her life, could it pay to not exist?”
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Lloyd-Jones joins YA thriller authors Karen M McManus, Jennifer Lynn Barnes and Cynthia Murphy on the Penguin list. Augusta Pine Does Not Exist is a lead title on Penguin’s YA 2026 list, with a marketing and PR campaign to match. This kicked off eight months pre-publication at YALC with a giveaway of the unmissable bound proof and will ramp up in the new year with further exciting activity.
Lloyd-Jones said: “I’m delighted to be working with Amina Parchment-Youssef and everyone at Penguin. As an avid reader of thrillers, it’s been a joy to step into the genre with such a supportive team. Augusta Pine is a heroine that’s very close to my heart and I can’t wait for readers to meet her. And to meet her snarky spybot, Edgar, of course.”
Parchment-Youssef discussed why she made the “lightning fast pre-empt”. She said: “Augusta Pine Does Not Exist is the definition of a must-acquire novel, and I realised this immediately reading it on submission. Augusta is everything you want from a protagonist; witty, clever and badass, the narrative is expertly plotted and paced, brimming with action, adrenaline and twists galore and the familiar yet futuristic world, sprinkled with technological advances, is incredibly well-imagined.
“This is genre-defying at its best, with the novel combining thriller, dystopia and sci-fi elements, and Penguin couldn’t be more excited to welcome Emily Lloyd-Jones and her world-class talent to our bestselling and award-winning YA list.”
Lloyd-Jones is a former bookseller turned author of middle-grade and YA novels. She lives in Northern California.
