Catherine O’Flynn signs first children’s book deal

Catherine O’Flynn, whose novel What Was Lost won the first novel prize at the Costa Book Awards in 2008, has written a children’s book about two girls who want to be detectives.

Lori & Max is about Lori Mason, who dreams of being a private detective and spends her days looking for signs of criminal activity at school and on the streets. When a new girl called Max joins her class, the duo are drawn together to fight real crimes in their own classroom.

The novel will be published by Welsh independent Firefly Press, which acquired the UK and Commonwealth rights from Lucy Luck at C&W.

“Lori & Max is a funny, gritty story of inner city girls battling malevolent hamsters, lazy stereotypes and crimes both real and imagined,” said O’Flynn. “I feel so lucky to be published by Firefly – a great independent with such a select list. I’m excited about working with them on Lori & Max and bringing the realism and humour of my writing to a new audience.”

Publishing is set for summer or autumn 2019.