Ebury bags ‘feminist Lord of the Flies’ thriller

Ebury imprint Del Rey has scooped the “compulsive and brutal, feminist speculative thriller” The Grace Year by Kim Liggett, with translation rights sold in 13 countries and Universal Pictures optioning the film rights. 

Publishing director for fiction, Gillian Green, acquired British Commonwealth rights (excluding Canada) from Chris Scheina at Wednesday Books/St Martin’s Press. 

Translation rights have since sold in thirteen countries, including Germany, Italy, Spain, Hungary, Sweden and France, among others.  It has also been optioned by Universal Pictures with actress and producer Elizabeth Banks set to direct. 

“The Grace Year is a riveting, speculative feminist thriller for readers of The Power and The Hunger Games,” said the publisher. “It is set in a ruthless patriarchal society where the most a girl can hope for is to be chosen as a wife. It is a world where all girls at age sixteen are banished to the northern forest for their ‘grace year’ – a time intended to rid themselves of their dangerous magic. But not every girl will survive.”

Green said: “I devoured The Grace Year in one compulsive gulp and couldn’t wait to share it with my team. We’re so pleased that we’re going to publishing Kim’s powerful, magical novel. This is a visceral, speculative thriller meets dark twisted fairy story best describes as a feminist Lord of the Flies.’  

Liggett added: “I’m thrilled The Grace Year has landed with such a prestigious and passionate publisher in the U.K. I've written a lot of stories, fantastical horror for young adults, but this is the first book where I, personally, felt like I had something at stake. At its core, The Grace Year is about the destructive force of a society that denies women power. It's amazing to see how many people, around the globe, have embraced Tierney's story as their own. It struck a nerve - a universal truth - that women need to be heard. It gives me a lot of hope for the future.”

The Grace Year will be published on the Del Rey imprint in hardback on 19th September 2019, priced at £14.99. The paperback will be released in 2020.