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Picador triumphs in 10-way auction for Ony Ratsifandrihamanana’s debut
Picador has triumphed in a "hotly-contested" 10-way auction for Ony Ratsifandrihamanana’s debut, which also sold a number of international rights at Frankfurt Book Fair (FBF). Picador publishing director Sophie Jonathan acquired UK and Commonwealth rights to A Long Ballad of a Short Marriage in print, e-book and audio from Rachel Yeoh at Madeleine Milburn. Picador will publish the novel as a superlead debut fiction launch in 2027.
During FBF, North American rights were pre-empted by Jade Hui at Summit in a six-figure deal. Italian rights sold for six figures to Garzanti in a five-way auction, while Spanish rights to two books were pre-empted by Urano and German rights went to Aufbau in a pre-empt. International rights are handled by Valentina Paulmichl at Madeleine Milburn.
A Long Ballad of a Short Marriage is the story of two families linked inextricably by two births: Lila and Kuno are born at the same time and in the same place. Kuno Raleha is overdue by more than a year, his poor mother thoroughly fed up of carrying him. Lila Ramiadana’s mother’s pregnancy is only a few months along when Lila is born. But these births are destined to happen together and these children are destined to marry. Whether they like it or not.
Set in an unnamed island country in the Indian Ocean over decades of political turmoil, the publisher described A Long Ballad of a Short Marriage as a story of "how fate and prophecy twist their way through the lives of two families and of a nation".
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Jonathan said: "From the opening line of A Long Ballad of a Short Marriage, I was hooked. This is a love story, a family story and the story of a nation, but it is also a novel in which our narrator steps forward and promises to play. The result is a joy from start to finish: I cried and laughed many, many times in the reading, and was endlessly mesmerised by the wisdom and beauty of Ony’s words, by the richness of her prose.
"A Long Ballad of a Short Marriage is a contemporary fable and one of the most exciting and compelling debuts I have read in years. Ony Ratsifandrihamanana is an extraordinary talent."
Ratsifandrihamanana is 32 and lives in Madagascar, where she works for a human rights organisation. With this novel, she wanted to "subvert the expectations of a traditional love story through her two reluctant and woefully inadequate protagonists, while interrogating the obsessions and failings of her own too-little known Malagasy culture".
Ratsifandrihamanana said: "Picador as a UK publisher is nothing short of a dream come true. Sophie and her team swept me off my feet with their understanding of the novel and their electrifying creativity, and I’m so thrilled to work with them. And, of course, none of this would have been possible without my wonderful literary agent, Rachel Yeoh, and the dedication of everyone at the Madeleine Milburn Literary Agency, to whom I’m endlessly grateful."
Yeoh said: "I’m thrilled that Ony’s extraordinary debut has found a UK home in Sophie Jonathan at Picador. The industry response at Frankfurt was truly exhilarating and a real testament to this story’s power. Set in a vividly reimagined Madagascar, this novel is a family saga, an almost-love story and a political drama all at once. I can’t wait for readers to fall in love with Lila and Kuno."
