Borough Press triumphs in eight-way auction for Moore's 'most accomplished work yet'

The Borough Press has won an eight-way auction for Liz Moore’s "epic American novel", The God of the Woods.

Commissioning editor Amy Perkins acquired UK and Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada, from Caspian Dennis at Abner Stein on behalf of Seth Fishman at The Gernert Company.

The novel will be published by The Borough Press in July 2024 following US publication with Riverhead in June 2024.

Pitched as a "modern classic in the making", The God of the Woods follows the wealthy Van Laar family whose mansion is located in the "beautiful but dangerous wilderness" of the Adirondacks. In the early 1960s, the only son Bear goes missing in the forest and then, in 1975, the daughter Barbara, conceived in the parents’ grief, also goes missing. The narrative "flashes masterfully back and forward between these two points" as Moore reveals what happened to this family.

Perkins commented: "I have long been grateful to Liz Moore, whose extraordinary novel Long Bright River helped keep me sane during 2020’s first lockdown. When Caspian first sent me The God of the Woods, I read it with the eagerness of a long-term fan, but quickly realised it was her most accomplished work yet. This is a novel filled with compassion and yet driven by tension, a masterclass in the pleasure and pain of families in all their complexity. I feel immense privilege to be publishing her in the UK."

Moore added: "The enthusiasm and vision The Borough Press has for this novel was evident from our first conversation, and I look forward to working closely with Amy Perkins throughout this process."