Faber nabs Parrott's rediscovered novel from a century ago

Faber has nabbed "the ultimate novel from a century ago" by Ursula Parrott, the pen name of Katherine Ursula Towle.

Head of classics and heritage Ella Griffiths acquired world all-language rights, excluding USA, to Ex-Wife from McNally Jackson. Faber has since accepted four pre-empts in a flurry of interest from Fischer in Germany, Feltrinelli Gramma in Italy, Atlas Contact in the Netherlands and Wahlström & Widstrand in Sweden. Spanish rights have also been sold to Gatopardo. 

The book follows a young divorcée in New York and had sold over 100,000 copies when it was first published in 1929. Introduced by Monica Heisey, author of Really Good, Actually (HarperCollins Publishers), the book will be published by Faber Editions in August 2024. 

The synopsis says: "In Ex-Wife, Patricia and Peter are a thoroughly modern married couple. Both drink. Both smoke. Both work. Both believe in Love-Outside-Marriage within the Honesty Policy. Until they don’t. Or, really, until he doesn’t. So when Peter pushes for divorce with increasing violence, Patricia has to forge a new life as a single woman in 1924: as an ex-wife."

Griffiths said: "I can’t believe this sensational novel is almost a hundred years old. What a voice: devastatingly tragicomic, achingly confessional, Patricia was instantly my friend. Her deadpan wisecracks — rich in wit and wisdom — mask the pain of heartbreak as she navigates Manhattan’s nightlife, friendships, abortion clinics and office politics to forge new freedoms in a patriarchal world.

"Ex-Wife flushes you with the hedonistic buzz of an absinthe cocktail with an emotional hangover that hits hard, and I can’t wait for a new era to fall in love."

Parrott was the author of over 20 novels and 50 stories. Ex-Wife was adapted into a Hollywood film, The Divorcee, at the height of the Depression.