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Atlantic acquires Oyinkan Braithwaite's second novel
Atlantic Books has acquired Oyinkan Braithwaite’s second novel. James Roxburgh, publishing director for Atlantic Fiction, acquired UK and Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada and Nigeria, to Cursed Daughters from Clare Alexander at Aitken Alexander. Cursed Daughters will be published in hardback, trade paperback and e-book on 25th September 2025.
Braithwaite’s first novel My Sister, the Serial Killer was a bestseller in the UK and rights were sold in 34 countries. It was longlisted for the Booker Prize, shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction and won the Crime and Thriller Book of the Year at the British Book Awards.
Cursed Daughters follows Eniiyi, whose family faces a family curse passed down between generations "ruining families and breaking hearts". Eniiyi, who resembles her dead aunt, falls in love with a handsome boy she saves from drowning and wonders whether she is destined to live out the habitual story of love and heartbreak, or whether she is instead able to "escape the family curse and the mysterious fate that befell her aunt".
Braithwaite said: "And here we are once more with Cursed Daughters, a story of love, generational trauma and superstition. The book is written; but it is near impossible to know how the world will receive a work you have laboured over. Fortunately, I have a fairy agent mother in Clare Alexander, a tall wizard editor in James Roxburgh and an absolute gem of a team behind my successes thus far. So here’s to the continuation of a wonderful collaborative journey."
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Roxburgh said: "If I died tomorrow, my publishing obituary would probably read: ‘Tall man, acquired My Sister, the Serial Killer’. So, I’ve long felt that I have a particular stake in Oyin’s follow-up. Fortunately, it is every bit as mordantly brilliant and original as its predecessor – technically sophisticated, funny and moving on female relationships, perceptive on love and heartbreak, sharp on the meeting point of modernity and an older cultural Nigeria. We think this is a huge step up from Oyin and a huge publication for Atlantic Fiction."
The new book will be the "cornerstone" of Atlantic’s 25th anniversary year and is set to include what the publisher describes as its "most significant marketing campaign of the decade". The campaign includes an exclusive edition for Waterstones and another for independent shops, as well as a multi-channel consumer advertising campaign to come on publication. A publicity tour comprising flagship and bespoke events will run throughout the autumn.
Alexander said: "My Sister, the Serial Killer arrived like a blast of fresh air into a muggy room. Truth to tell, although there were at least four books at the Frankfurt Book Fair in 2024 that were compared to My Sister, the Serial Killer, back in 2017 there were only a couple of UK publishers who wanted to publish it. And it was James Roxburgh and Atlantic Books who recognised it for what it was and who published it so brilliantly. If I had a concern, it was how Oyin could conceivably follow such an outrageously distinctive and successful debut. But I needn’t have worried. Cursed Daughters has twinned love stories in a brilliant cocktail of modernity and superstition – with a dash of horror – that more than fulfils her early promise. And we couldn’t be happier that Oyin will be reunited with Atlantic Books and her extremely tall editor for publication of her new book."
