Ashdown's Little Sister to Trapeze

Trapeze, the new imprint from Orion, is to publish Little Sister by Isabel Ashdown in July.

Sam Eades, senior commissioning editor at Orion, has acquired world rights in all languages for Little Sister in a two-book deal struck by Kate Shaw at The Viney Agency.

Eades said: “The complex relationship between sisters continues to fascinate readers, from Rosamund Lupton’s Sister to SK Tremayne’s The Ice Twins. A sister can be our closest friend, and also our deadliest enemy. What is so clever about Little Sister is that Isabel Ashdown offers something fresh and distinctive. She pairs an unforgettable premise with two intriguing narrative voices that will have readers hooked from the very first page. I’m delighted to have signed Isabel Ashdown to new imprint Trapeze, and she has lots of in-house fans who can’t wait to see what she will write next!”

Ashdown said: “Like many of us, I’ve spent much of my life being different things to different people – sister, daughter, mother, partner, friend – and I’m endlessly fascinated by the complexities of family relationships, and the weight of their power.  We like to think we are most ourselves with family, but who’s to say which version of us is the best version, the truest version, the most reliable version even?  As a writer I’m often drawn to the shadows of family histories – my own included – and find myself wanting to explore the ways in which the memories and consequences of shared events can differ so wildly from person to person.  That, in part, is what inspired Little Sister, the idea of inconsistent memory – of distorted memory – ultimately the idea of unreliable truths.”

Shaw said: "The minute I started reading Little Sister I was gripped, and not just because I am both a little sister, and have a little sister.  Isabel sticks her hands into the viscera of close sisterhood in this intense, deftly plotted and unsettling novel and imagines brilliantly what it could lead to…"

Ashdown is the author of four novels. Her debut Glasshopper was published by Myriad Editions in 2009. Her most recent book Flight was published by Myriad Editions last year.

Little Sister will be published by Trapeze on 20th July 2017 in paperback priced at £7.99 and e-book priced at £7.99.