Candlish moves to Michael Joseph

Maxine Hitchcock, publishing director at Michael Joseph, has beaten off competition from four other publishers to acquire two new novels from Louise Candlish.
 
The deal for UK and Commonwealth rights was agreed with Sheila Crowley at Curtis Brown. Candlish was previously published by Little, Brown.
 
Hitchcock said: “I have long admired Louise’s novels - she is such a clever, insightful and perceptive writer, creating an intense reading experience at the same time as conjuring up unforgettable characters.”
 
The first novel, The Sudden Departure of the Frasers, sees Christy Davenport move into her much yearned for ‘forever home’ in South London only to become obsessed with the previous occupant, the glamorous Amber Fraser, whose departure months before is shrouded in mystery.
 
Hitchcock described the novel as “a contemporary Rear Window”, adding: “It takes us right into the heart of a closed community whilst containing enough twists and turns and emotional reveals to have you on the edge of your seat and then needing a lie-down afterwards, so shredded are your nerves”.
 
She continued: “The Sudden Departure of the Frasers will be one of our biggest publications of next year and cement Louise’s already impressive reputation, heralding her as the true queen of the emotional mystery.”
 
Candlish said she was “overjoyed” to be joining Penguin, “having admired the women's fiction list there for many years”. She commented: “Champions as inspiring as Maxine don't come along very often in a writer's career and I feel incredibly lucky that she has come along in mine”.