Albertalli and Silvera team up for YA novel

Simon & Schuster UK has bought the UK and Commonwealth rights to a new YA novel co-written by US authors Becky Albertalli, author of Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda, and Adam Silvera, author of They Both Die At The End.

What If It’s Us opens with Arthur and Ben meeting at the post office as Ben is shipping his ex-boyfriend’s things back to him. They subsequently endure the frustration of knowing there was a missed connection, before the universe pushes them back together again in a series of failed “first” dates.

Simon & Schuster has also acquired a standalone novel, entitled More Happy Than Not, by Silvera.       

Editor Lucy Rogers acquired the rights for What If It’s Us from Jean McGinley at HarperCollins US, and UK & Commonwealth rights (excluding the ANZ region) for More Happy Than Not from Charlotte Bodman at Rights People on behalf of Soho Teen.  

Rogers said: “What could be better that one bestselling YA author, but two! We are incredibly excited to be publishing What If It’s Us. Packed full of Becky and Adam’s trademark wit and warmth, and with characters so real they could walk off the page, this is a love story that you can’t help but fall head over heels for. We’re thrilled to be welcoming Becky to the list and continuing our Adam publishing."