Canongate seizes the latest novel by Booker Prize-nominated Grenville

Canongate has seized Restless Dolly Maunder, the latest novel by Booker Prize-nominated author Kate Grenville.

Editor at large Ellah Wakatama acquired world English rights excluding Australia and New Zealand, in Grenville’s new book. It was first commissioned by Audible, with the new and extended manuscript acquired from Text Publishing Australia by Wakatama via Sarah Lutyens at Lutyens & Rubinstein. Canongate will publish Restless Dolly Maunder in November 2023.

The synopsis reads: "Dolly Maunder is born at the end of the 19th century, when society’s long-locked doors are just starting to creak ajar for determined women. Growing up in a poor farming family in rural New South Wales, clever and energetic, Dolly spends her restless life doggedly pushing at those doors.

"In this compelling new novel, Kate Grenville uses family memories to imagine her way into the life of her grandmother. This is the story of a woman working her way through a world of limits and obstacles, who was able – despite the cost – to make a life she could call her own."

Grenville’s novel The Secret River (Canongate) received the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize, and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and the Miles Franklin Literary Award. The Idea of Perfection (Picador) won the Orange Prize. Grenville’s other novels include Sarah Thornhill (Canongate), The Lieutenant (Canongate) and Lilian’s Story (Canongate), among others. 

Grenville said: "In the old sepia photos, our foremothers in their impossible clothes seem like another species. I wanted to rescue one of them from those impassive silent images and bring her to life. Dolly Maunder is a complicated, contradictory human we can recognise as one of us, dealing with the restrictions of her life as a woman with insight, determination and sharp-edged energy."

Wakatama added: "Dolly is a delight from the moment the reader meets her, not always likeable, always compelling. In this new novel, Grenville’s readers will recognise her gentle, exacting characterisation, in a story that brings us closer than ever to her own life. It is a work of glorious imagination."