Bloomsbury bags six-figure débutant Ramos

Bloomsbury has signed a six-figure deal with an American débutant for a "smart, chilling" novel with echoes of The Handmaid’s Tale.

The publisher batted off a rival pre-empt just days after The Farm, by Princeton University graduate Joanne Ramos, was submitted to publishers.

Senior commissioning editor Alexa von Hirschberg snapped up UK and Commonwealth rights (excluding Canada) from Sue Armstrong at C+W Agency, via Jenn Joel at ICM, and will publish the novel in the UK in spring 2019.

Random House will publish in the US. The Farm explores a world in which women conceive the children of the elite and deliver them at the Golden Oaks Farm, earning a significant payment in return—if they follow the rules. "I raced through The Farm as though plugged in at the mains... It deserves to be a huge bestseller," von Hirschberg said.