Debut tale of a 'hidden' Cornwall to Two Roads

Two Roads has acquired debut novel The Lip by Charlie Carroll, depicting "a hidden Cornwall" while exploring themes of childhood, isolation and mental health with a heroine at its heart.

Publisher Lisa Highton acquired UK rights from Eleanor Birne at PEW Literary and the book will publish on 18th March 2021 in hardback, e-book and audio.

Told through narrator Melody Janie, a young woman "literally living on the edge", The Lip depicts Cornwall in a new light. According to the synopsis, it reveals "not the Cornwall of cream teas and Poldark, but the other Cornwall, the second-poorest region in all of northern Europe, where second homes are pricing out locals who have lived there for generations". Its plot follows Janie when a stranger enters her life and she is forced to confront both him and the terrible tragedies of her past. 

Carroll, based in Cornwall himself, is the author of three non-fiction books and has twice won the K Blundell Trust Award for "writers under 40 who aim to raise social awareness with their writing". 

He commented: "As a novel deeply rooted in its sense of place, my hope is that The Lip accounts for much of what is going on within Cornwall today – all the frustration and all the pride; all the destruction and all the beauty – in order to effectively illuminate it."

Highton said: "I’m delighted that The Lip has found its home with us, we really responded to the different voices and Charlie’s sense of place and a starker reality, while never giving up on hope that things can change."