Daunt Books scoops Hansbury's 'blistering and indelible story of trans-awakening'

Daunt Books Publishing has scooped Some Strange Music Draws Me In by Griffin Hansbury, a "trans-awakening and coming-of-age novel" set in 1980s Massachusetts.

Publisher Marigold Atkey acquired UK and Commonwealth (excluding Canada) rights from Caspian Dennis at Abner Stein, on behalf of Doug Stewart at Sterling Lord Literistic. The book will be published by Daunt Books Originals in April 2024.

The synopsis says: "It’s summer 1984 in blue-collar Swaffham, Massachusetts. Thirteen-year-old Mel knows she is different to her spiky, troubled best friend Julie, but can’t yet articulate to herself why. When she meets Sylvia – a glamorous, demolition-derby-competing, Patti-Smith-loving, defiant 20-something – she begins to realise that not only is there a world beyond Swaffham and its small-minded locals, there are other ways of being, free from the class and gender roles embodied by those around her.

"Narrated from the present day by Max, formerly Mel, long since transitioned, Some Strange Music Draws Me In is a blistering and indelible story of trans-awakening. In focusing on the pre-transition subject, Griffin Hansbury explores the dangerous forces they often must escape to survive."

Hansbury is the author of Vanishing New York (Dey Street Books) and Feral City (WW Norton & Co), as Jeremiah Moss. He is the winner of a Pushcart Prize, and an internationally published psychoanalyst specialising in gender.

He said: "I’m very happy for my characters to reach the UK and in such good hands with Marigold Atkey at the esteemed publisher Daunt Books. Mel/Max and Sylvia would be elated to travel so far from home."

Atkey added: "As soon as I began Some Strange Music Draws Me In, I knew I was in the hands of a consummate storyteller. The world is evoked so vividly – I could feel the dust under my feet, the sun on my skin – and I cared for each character, as even the hate-filled are drawn with such compassion.

"Mel, the beating heart of this beautiful novel, reminds me of so many of my favourite young protagonists from literature and cinema, while being, at the same time, entirely singular. This nuanced, moving novel of self-realisation is something truly special, and I am so proud to be bringing it to the UK."