Sandycove nets two more from Nugent

Penguin's Dublin-based imprint Sandycove has bought two more “brilliantly observed” books from Liz Nugent.

Patricia Deevy, deputy publisher, acquired Irish, UK and British Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada, from Marianne Gunn O’Connor at the Marianne Gunn O’Connor Literary and Creative Agency. The first, as-yet-untitled, book will be published in spring 2022.

Nugent's novel Skin Deep (Penguin) was published in spring 2018, picking up both Crime Novel of the Year and the RTE Radio Listener’s Choice Award at the Irish Book Awards. The author's fourth book, Our Little Cruelties (Penguin), a bestseller in Ireland, is released in the UK in paperback this month.  Nugent has also written for Irish film, theatre, radio and television. 

She said: “I’m absolutely delighted to be able to continue my writing career with Penguin. Editor Patricia Deevy found something in me worth nurturing eight years ago, and four books later, I have found no reason to go elsewhere. With Penguin, I always feel like the whole team is behind me, rooting for me, and willing me to do my best work and I try my hardest not to disappoint them. Many thanks to Patricia and Michael McLoughlin for taking a chance on a complete unknown. And huge thanks to my wonderful and fiercely loyal agent, Marianne Gunn O’Connor.”

Deevy added: "I am over the moon that we have done a new deal to publish Liz’s next two books. She is both an extraordinarily gifted author of complex, gripping and brilliantly observed stories of deep family dysfunction and an absolutely wonderful author to work with – tireless, endlessly creative and unstintingly generous. We all love her in Penguin General. And I am very grateful to Marianne Gunn O’Connor for her thoughtful representation of Liz over the years and look forward to our continued collaboration."