Orion snaps up Brown's 'uplifting' romantic debut

Victoria Oundjian, commissioning editor at Orion Fiction, has acquired UK and Commonwealth rights to a romantic debut, Uncoupling by Lorraine Brown.

The two-book deal was made with Hannah Ferguson at Hardman & Swainson following a four-way auction. US rights have been pre-empted by Putnam, and Thérèse Coen, rights director at Hardman & Swainson, has sold translation rights in a series of auctions and pre-empts to Bastei Lübbe in Germany, Xander in the Netherlands, Sperling & Kupfer in Italy, Euromedia in the Czech Republic, Topseller in Portugal, Vulkan in Serbia and Fokus in Croatia.

Uncoupling is a modern love story that follows Hannah and Si, a couple who are on the same track – until their train divides on the way to a wedding. Hannah wakes up in Paris and realises that her boyfriend (and her ticket) are 300 miles away in Amsterdam. But then she meets Léo on the station platform, and he’s everything Si isn’t. Spending the day with him in Paris forces Hannah to question how well she really knows herself – and whether, sometimes, you need to go in the wrong direction to find the right path.

Oundjian said: “Lorraine’s truly exciting debut leapt off the page for me from the first line. I felt completely sucked into Hannah’s world and journey, bringing her trip across Europe so vividly to life. Lorraine explores the depths of relationships, not just romantic, but those we have with our parents, friends and with ourselves. It digs deep into those fears we all carry and does it with such uplifting and beautiful prose I felt like I really was wandering the streets of Paris with Hannah and Léo. Lorraine is a joy to work with and I cannot wait to share this story with readers in 2021.”

Brown added: “I’m so excited that Uncoupling has found its perfect home with Victoria at Orion Fiction, who has believed in the story from the very beginning. Travelling across Europe is something we can only dream of in these strange and challenging times, but I hope that readers will enjoy escaping into another world for a while as they join Hannah and Léo on their journey from chance meeting on a train to a life-changing day in Paris.”

Orion Fiction will publish Uncoupling in hardback and trade paperback in February 2021.