Bluemoose pre-empts Crossman's 'dazzling' novel for first time English publication

Bluemoose Books has snapped up The Orange Notebooks, a "dazzling" novel about a mother’s journey through grief to "radical hope" from Susanna Crossman.

Kevin Duffy, founder and publisher, pre-empted UK and Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada, in an exclusive submission from Jessica Craig at Craig Literary. The book will be published as a lead title in 2025 and will mark Crossman’s first novel to be published in English.

"Susanna Crossman is one of the very first writers whose voice captivated me over six years ago when I founded Craig Literary, and I am overjoyed to connect with Bluemoose to bring her the recognition and readership she deserves as one of the most erudite, distinctive and fascinating British women writing in Europe," said Craig.

The Orange Notebooks follows Anna who has a breakdown after her son’s death. In a French psychiatric ward Anna meets Yan, a Breton sea captain, and together they "go on a surreal Orphic journey to the underworld, sailing from Finistère to the middle of the English Channel. Myth and reality collide allowing Anna to begin the healing process."

Duffy commented: "Susanna is a phenomenal writer, and we think one of the finest around. We’re very excited to publish her novel and put it into readers’ hands."

Crossman said: "Having lost two sisters and worked internationally in hospitals for over 20 years training doctors and medical staff in clinical communication, I was inspired to write about loss, love and destiny. How do cultures shape death rituals? How do individuals invent ceremonies of forgetting or remembrance? What happens to our language, bodies, minds and our sense of time in moments of trauma? How to write about death and mourning with hope and necessary grace?"