Abrams signs Groskop's 'jaunty tour' through French fiction

Abrams Press has acquired a "jaunty tour" through French fiction by writer and comedian Viv Groskop titled Au Revoir, Tristesse.

Jamison Stoltz, executive editor of Abrams Press, acquired world rights to the title from Cathryn Summerhayes at Curtis Brown UK. 

Au Revoir, Tristesse, is a tour through French fiction—from Victor Hugo, Flaubert, Stendhal, and Proust, through Camus, Balzac, and Francoise Sagan—in search of happiness and a way to be more French. A fluent French speaker who studied the language from the age of 11 and spent every school holiday there, Groskop is an "ideal guide", said the publisher.

Groskop’s previous book The Anna Karenina Fix: Life Lessons From Russian Literature was published in the UK by Fig Tree and will be published this October by Abrams Press in the United States.

Stoltz said: “Viv Groskop is a superstar. I could not be more delighted to be signing up another book from her. She’s a fiercely intelligent and wickedly funny evangelist for the church of literature. If you like books, you’ll love this. And who doesn’t want to be a little more French?”

Groskop said: “What is it about Frenchness that is so damned beguiling? This book unpicks the secret of that spell through the works of France’s greatest authors from Victor Hugo and Gustave Flaubert to Albert Camus and Marguerite Duras. France was the first culture to claim my heart and I have never given up on the idea that I was secretly swapped at birth and my real parents Francoise and Pierre are waiting for me somewhere picturesque. I’m thrilled to have a second book on Abrams Press’ narrative non-fiction list and I am eating a pain au chocolat right now in celebration.”

Au Revoir, Tristesse is scheduled for publication in Spring 2020 on the Abrams Press imprint. Abrams Press is the new text-driven imprint from Abrams which was launched in 2017 and focuses on narrative nonfiction.

Groskop is a London-based comedian, writer and broadcaster. She writes for Guardian, Observer and Financial Times and has a weekly column in The New European.

Transworld recently acquired Groskop's How Women Own the Room, a "celebration of women and public speaking".