Faber lands Sam Byers' third novel

Faber will publish Come Join Our Disease, the third novel by prize-winning author Sam Byers. 

Emmie Francis, editor, acquired UK and Commonwealth and audio rights from Peter Straus at Rogers, Coleridge & White. Publication is scheduled for 6th August 2020.

The synopsis reads: "Maya is homeless. When her site is razed by ruthless authorities, she’s detained. But then, Maya is given a lifeline; a chance to re-enter society again. A tech company–angling to raise its philanthropic profile–offers her a job and a flat. There’s one caveat: Maya must document her progress on Instagram, to show that anyone can be peaceful; productive; perfect."

"Yet Maya realises that sickness is a kind of revolution. Why be healthy when you could be happy? With other outcasts, Maya starts a movement: billboards promoting wellness are defaced all over London and her media feed is flooded with obscene, filthy images. Suddenly, questions arise about the forces unleashed: liberation and madness, protest and anarchy, rebellion and chaos."

Francis said: "Sam Byers is an enviable storyteller with mordant wit, shrewd satire and a magician's ease with dialogue in his repertoire. But as a novelist it is his deeply humane perspective on contemporary mores and the politics of our age that has always impressed me–moved me, really. With Perfidious Albion, he brought his readers one of the all-time classics of Brexit literature, and with Come Join Our Disease, they can expect even more: a piercing clarion call to pay attention to insidious prejudices at work in society. His new novel is that magisterial mix of expertly crafted fiction and great social relevance."

Byers said: "Working with Emmie and everyone at Faber on Perfidious Albion was such a pleasure, and it’s a great privilege to be a small part of Faber’s extraordinary list and history. I’m thrilled to be continuing that with this new novel."

Byers' writing has appeared in Granta, the New York Times, the Guardian and the Times Literary Supplement. His début novel Idiopathy was shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Prize and the Desmond Elliott Prize and was the winner of a Betty Trask Award. His second novel, Perfidious Albion (Faber) was longlisted for the RSL Ondaatje Prize and the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction, and shortlisted for the Encore Prize. Perfidious Albion has also been optioned by The Forge Entertainment Ltd.