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Allison & Busby snaps up the winner of the Debut Writers Over 50 Award
Allison & Busby has snapped up Glennis Virgo’s debut novel, City of Silk, the book that won the inaugural Debut Writers Over 50 Award organised by the the Jenny Brown Associates Literary Agency, which received over 1,700 entries.
Publishing manager Lesley Crooks acquired world English rights from Jenny Brown and Lisa Highton at Jenny Brown Associates. The book will be published in November 2024, and the author is set to appear at the Edinburgh International Book Festival in August.
"Elena Morandi is a supremely talented seamstress, at home among the bolts of fabric and cutting shears of her trade," the synopsis says. "However, she is determined that her ambition to be a tailor, a profession barred to her as a woman, will not slip through from her fingers like thread from the eye of a needle. With luck and perseverance, Elena gains a fragile foothold in the workshop of a master tailor, but then a man from her past crosses her path."
Crooks said: "It is not often that I devour a submission as swiftly as I did Glennis’ manuscript but I was powerless to resist its pitch perfect pull and how richly the details of Elena’s world were rendered. City of Silk is a very special book."
Virgo added: "I have been quite overwhelmed by the enthusiasm of Lesley Crooks and the rest of the team at Allison & Busby for my debut novel, and I am delighted that it is in such good hands. For that, I am indebted to Jenny Brown and Lisa Highton at Jenny Brown Associates — they could not have found a better home for Elena."
Brown and Highton commented: "We are thrilled that City of Silk, the inaugural winner of our Debut Writers Over 50 Award, will be published by Lesley and her team at Allison & Busby. Glennis’ novel is rich with the sights, sounds and sumptuous fashions of Renaissance Italy. We know readers will take spirited Elena Morandi to their hearts as she fights for justice on behalf of her wronged friend, and as she challenges convention to become recognised as a tailor."
