Taproot Press secures 'arresting' intergenerational novel from Saltire winner Thom

Taproot Press has secured Connective Tissue, an "illuminating and intensely moving" intergenerational Holocaust novel, from Saltire winner Eleanor Thom. 

Co-founder Patrick Jamieson acquired world rights directly from the author. The novel will be published in August 2023.       

Connective Tissue is based on Thom’s family history, following Helena, living in contemporary Kilmarnock with her baby who is born with an undiagnosed form of paralysis, and her grandmother, Dora, living in Nazi-era Berlin. The publisher wrote: "Elegantly interweaving these narratives across 20th-century Germany, London and 21st-century Scotland, Thom crafts a unique and deeply-researched novel from the margins of the Scottish Jewish diaspora that is at once personal and historical, a testament to the enduring strength of familial bonds across generations and our need to know the people and places that we come from."  

Jamieson commented: "The arresting voice and uncompromising honesty of Connective Tissue immediately spoke to us. Giving a platform to lesser-heard voices and the stories that connect us across borders is fundamental to Taproot’s mission, and Connective Tissue exists at the heart of that. Few narratives of working-class Holocaust refugees exist, fewer still of the Scottish Jewish diaspora, and this novel not only brings some of the truths of these existences to light, but does so through an unforgettable and impressively constructed narrative.”

Thom, whose debut The Tin-Kin (Duckworth) won the Saltire First Book of the Year Award in 2010, said: “I am so delighted to be working with Taproot Press, a publisher local to me that I feel I can really trust with this story. Although fiction, Connective Tissue contains a very personal family history that was not easy to write. Patrick really understands the heart of the book and what I wanted to do. A third-generation Holocaust narrative from Scotland is not something I’ve read before, and accounts of working-class Holocaust refugees are pretty scarce, so I’m glad my work will be available for everyone interested in this topic.”