Doubleday scoops novella by new Welsh talent McCarthy

Doubleday has scooped a novella it describes as exquisite by new Welsh talent Alex McCarthy.  

Alice Youell, commissioning editor, acquired UK and Commonwealth rights, including audio, for The Unbroken Beauty of Rosalind Bone from Felicity Blunt at Curtis Brown. Translation rights have already sold in Spain, Italy and Germany. Doubleday will publish in hardback in June 2023. 

The book is set in the “apparently sleepy" village of Cwmcysgod in the Welsh valleys. The story moves between the inhabitants of the village—from the octogenarian corner-shop owner to the renegade teenagers who deal drugs and set the woods alight by night. “A seductive yet menacing picture emerges,” the publisher said. “At its heart is the mystery of Rosalind Bone, a young woman of breathtaking beauty who vanished over 20 years ago in a shroud of shame.” 

Youell said: “I was astonished by the power, poise and economy of Alex’s writing. In so few words she has manifested a world of characters so real they have been walking around with me since we first met. This is a tender, sly, exquisitely wrought debut, calling to mind such masterpieces as Claire Keegan’s Small Things Like These (Faber) and Donal Ryan’s The Spinning Heart (Doubleday Ireland). There is pain and darkness here but there is also the shimmering possibility of redemption and recovery. This book is the very definition of small but mighty and I’m absolutely thrilled Alex has chosen Doubleday as her publishing home.” 

McCarthy is an alumna of London Contemporary Dance School and worked as a dancer and choreographer for a number of years on stage, TV and film. In 2017, following a career change and several years of writing, she began this book. She said: “It’s an honour to be able to share this tale with others.”