Faber acquires A Good Deliverance from Toby Clements

Faber has acquired A Good Deliverance from Toby Clements, to be published on 4th July 2024. 

Associate publisher Louisa Joyner acquired UK, Commonwealth and EU rights, excluding Canada. Clements is represented by Anna Power at Johnson & Alcock. 

“A Good Deliverance presents readers with the prison confessions of Sir Thomas Malory – politician, courtier, outlaw, and renowned author of Le Morte D’Arthur,” the publisher said. “He recounts a perilously exciting life full of sieges, battles and court intrigue. The captivating tale – of a man at odds with his past and the events that inspired him to write the first great work of prose fiction in English." 

Clements is a journalist, former literary editor at the Daily Telegraph, and the author of the Kingmaker series (Century) set during the Wars of the Roses.  

Clements said: “I was quite a warlike child, obsessed with swords and so on, so Disney’s 1963 film ’The Sword in the Stone’ – tag line: Whiz-Bang Whizard of Whimsey! – was a grave disappointment, but it did set me on the path to Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte D’Arthur, and from its irresistible, unapologetic opening, I was hooked. To learn then that this minor marvel had been written as occupational therapy between jail-breaks and court appearances, and that Malory had – possibly? – been the victim of a terrible injustice only made me more determined to try to resuscitate his world.” 

Joyner added: “The most glorious thing about historical fiction at its best is its ability to transport you deep into another moment in time whilst making the reader feel utterly in the present – in that moment all worlds are as modern as they can possibly be and that sense of possibility, of the risks Mallory takes as he balances opposing political interests in order to quite literally keep his head, feel utterly fresh and eerily prescient. A Good Deliverance has that immediacy in perfect balance with its deep insight into the Wars of the Roses worn with gossamer lightness. A joy to read and a great deal of fun to publish, it’s a perfect addition to our ever-broadening fiction offering.”