S&S acquires two from Books and the City author Swain

Simon & Schuster UK has acquired two new novels from Heidi Swain, author of The Cherry Tree Café, which was published as part of S&S’s Books and the City Digital Originals e-book programme.

S&S discovered Swain following both an open day of submissions and a creative writing masterclass from Books and the City, S&S’s multi-platform project aimed at fans of commercial women’s fiction.

Following the success of The Cherry Tree Café, S&S will publish two further novels by Swain in physical and electronic formats.

The first, as-yet-untitled, book focuses on a Christmas market stall and will be published in winter 2016, while the second - also untitled - about a woman who renovates an old cottage and falls for the local vet, will follow in summer 2017.

The Books and the City Digital Originals programme has now successfully published three titles: The Two of Us by Andy Jones, The Cherry Tree Café by Swain and Snowdrops at the Star and Sixpence by Holly Hepburn.

Editorial director for fiction, Clare Hey, said: "Heidi writes wonderful escapist novels – when you settle down to read her it is like being enveloped in a lovely warm hug. I am delighted to see the success she has had so far and it is particularly pleasing that we discovered her through the open day of submissions – we were hoping to find new, exciting talent that would appeal to the Books and the City community and Heidi’s novels are the epitome of that. I am looking forward to seeing her e-book popularity blossom in print at the start of a long, brilliant career."