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Cheerio signs Barker’s ‘sumptuous’ début
Independent Cheerio has signed Kit, a novel of “sumptuous complication” from Megan Barker.
UK and Commonwealth rights were acquired from Lisa Baker at Aitken Alexander. The book will be published in July 2023 and will be the fourth book published by Cheerio.
Kit charts the friendship of Megan and Kit, who meet in their twenties. Years later, the pair are reunited when Kit is “desperately unwell”. Over the months that follow, the novel “examines the difficulties of revisiting a relationship conceived in the great freedom of youth [...] while attempting to remain fully present in the messy beauty of life”.
Barker commented: “I feel lucky to be part of Cheerio’s bold adventure. It is a privilege to work with such a fresh yet experienced team: risk-taking in safe hands. Bacon’s commitment to the fullness of experience, expression and experiment runs through everything Cheerio does and I am honoured that they found that same spirit in Kit. Their generous trust in the text – and in me – has been a tonic and a joy.”
Martha Sprackland, poetry editor, added: “Kit is a very special book – spare yet expansive, vast in its empathy, furious and oceanic in its emotional power. To write grief well is difficult; to live well after grief equally so. In Kit, we have a guide to those uncharted places. I’m delighted to be working with Megan on her first novel and look forward to seeing it captivate readers on publication next summer.”
