Biteback scoops MP Norman’s ‘ingenious’ début novel

Biteback Publishing has scooped The Winding Stair, a “dazzling” fiction début from MP Jesse Norman. 

James Stephens, publisher, acquired UK Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada, from Caroline Michel at PFD. The novel will be published in May 2023 and be supported by a “major” publicity campaign. All the author proceeds will be donated to NMITE, the new specialist technology and engineering university in Hereford. 

The Winding Stair is a “gripping” story of ambition and revenge set in the courts of Elizabethan and Jacobean England. The narrative follows Francis Bacon and his rival Edward Coke – “the greatest lawyer of his generation” – as they struggle for power and influence. 

Norman said: “The 17th century is history, life and politics with the gloves off. The people are bigger, the stakes are higher, the plotting more devious and cut-throat. So it is with this book. Much of it is invented; almost all of it is true.”

Stephens added: “Jesse is a wonderful writer with an extraordinary imagination. In The Winding Stair, he combines profound scholarly research with an ingenious narrative sweep to create a tour de force of historical worldbuilding. It will appeal to fans of the very finest examples of the genre while offering dark echoes of our current political climate.”