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Transworld acquires Ruth Newton’s high-concept thriller The Carriers
Transworld has acquired Ruth Newton’s debut novel The Carriers, a high-concept thriller that asks: would you offload your negative emotions if it meant someone else had to feel them for you?
Deputy publishing director Thorne Ryan acquired world rights from Megan Staunton at Bergstrom Studio, with Transworld to publish The Carriers as a lead debut on the Bantam list in hardback, e-book and audio in May 2026.
The Carriers is described “a conversation-starting, high-concept thriller that does for the important topic of women’s emotional labour what Apple TV’s Severance does for work-life balance and what Jessamine Chan’s The School for Good Mothers (Simon & Schuster) did for the pressure of motherhood”.
In the novel, revolutionary new technology allows clients to outsource undesired emotions to “Carriers” – women who are paid to process them. Those who can afford “Expression” never have to feel emotional pain again. In a world full of suffering, there is no shortage of demand.
The synopsis goes on: “Fortunately for Emotional Transport Operator Viv, employees at biotech firm Eudaimonia can use the service for free. She loves her job and is proud that she helps people escape their sadness. Until one day, she enters a restricted-access room, and finds a Carrier is overloaded with too much traum to meet the clinic’s quotas.
“Despite Viv’s best efforts, the Carrier dies – and now, she’s seen too much. She flees, but the company is on her tail, determined to silence her by any means necessary. Before they get to her, can she make heard the voices of all the women who have borne too much?”
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Ryan said: “I’ve been looking for a high-concept thriller in the Severance space (i.e. a novel that addresses a hot-button issue in current cultural discourse through the lens of a commercial thriller) for a long time, so I dove into The Carriers on submission with bated breath – and I was delighted to find myself as hooked as I ever could have wished from page one. I was so compelled not only by the high-stakes, high-pace plot, but also by the themes Ruth explores; the idea of making literal the emotional labour that women continue to bear in today’s society is just genius. I am so excited to be working with Ruth and Megan to bring this phenomenal book to readers."
Ruth Newton is a writer and producer who has created campaigns for charities including Choose Love, WWF and the RSPB. She has made documentaries for Channel 4 and BBC3, short films for Greenpeace and the National Trust and has been published by the Guardian and Lonely Planet. The Carriers was longlisted for BPA’s first novel award, shortlisted for Hodderscape x The Science Museum’s Debut Science Fiction award and won the Jericho Writers’ Friday Night Live competition.
Newton said: “After years of being my constant companion, I’m thrilled that The Carriers has found its home with Transworld. Having Thorne and the team’s expertise and encouragement is a dream come true and I’m so excited to see my first novel out in the world.”
Staunton added: “I’m utterly delighted The Carriers has found a home with Transworld. From our first conversation, it was clear Thorne completely understood the world Ruth has created with her debut, speculative work. This novel centres on a question that can’t help but spark debate and ignite conversation and I can’t wait to see the response from readers.”
