Legend scoops 'important' new Wayne novel

Legend Press has scooped the “important and beautiful” third novel from Women’s Prize-longlisted writer Jemma Wayne.

Commissioning editor Lauren Parsons acquired world English language rights for To Dare from Eve White at the Eve White Literary Agency.  It will be published on 1st June 2020.

The synopsis explains: “In To Dare, three women’s lives collide in a modern story of power, inequality, love, and revenge. Veronica and her wealthy husband George are unpacking boxes, hoping a fresh start in their newly refurbished Victorian terrace will help them heal from a recent trauma. Next door, Simone returns to her neglected council flat. Miserable and trapped, she struggles to take care of her children under the watch of her controlling husband Terry. When childhood friend Sarah re-enters Veronica’s life, things are thrown even further off balance. As tensions in their own lives rise, the painful memory that binds them threatens to spill into their present.”

Wayne’s 2014 debut After Before (Legend) was longlisted for the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction 2015 and shortlisted for the Waverton Good Read Award. Her second critically-acclaimed novel Chains of Sand (Legend) was released in 2016.

Parsons said: “We are thrilled to acquire Jemma’s new novel. Her writing is truly prize-winning and it is fantastic to be working with her on her third book. To Dare is an important and beautiful novel, handling difficult themes including domestic abuse, violence, manipulation, fertility struggles and class with a perceptive sensitivity.”