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Allison & Busby bags two-book deal with Johnston
Allison & Busby has bagged The Paris Peacemakers in a two-book deal from Flora Johnston.
Lesley Crooks, publishing manager, acquired world English rights from Jenny Brown at Jenny Brown Associates. The Paris Peacemakers will be published in April 2024 with the second book following in early 2025.
"Its backdrop of the Treaty of Versailles, as international politicians attempt to rebuild the world they have shattered, will resonate strongly with our world today," said Brown. "It also explores the little-remembered fate of the Scottish rugby team, swept up in war fever and mown down in battle."
Johnston’s novel follows two sisters — Stella and Corran Rutherford — and Corran’s fiancé in the aftermath of the First World War. It was inspired by the Scottish rugby team which was "decimated" during the war and the letters written by Johnston’s great-aunt who worked as a typist at the Paris Peace Conference.
Crooks said: "It was such a pleasure to step into the vivid world Flora created and be introduced to her characters, who you can tell Flora knows inside and out. The Paris Peacemakers was remarkably assured and weaves together three compelling storylines tackling grief and the fragile hope of the post-war period."
Johnston added: "There are many books about the horrors of war, but I wanted to explore what comes afterwards. How do we pick up the pieces: emotionally, ideologically, politically? It was a particular pleasure to draw on the letters of my great-aunt who, along with many other young women, swapped grubby wartime London for the glamour and intrigue of life a life as a typist at the Paris Peace Conference."
