Faber scoops Sue Prideaux's 'electric' biography of Paul Gauguin

Faber has scooped Wild Thing: A life of Paul Gauguin, a re-examination of the life of artist Paul Gauguin from Sue Prideaux. 

Associate publisher Laura Hassan bought UK and Commonwealth and EU rights (excluding Canada) from Catherine Clarke at Felicity Bryan Associates for publication on 12th September 2024. 

Wild Thing is the first major biography of Gauguin for 30 years, according to the publisher. In the book Prideaux revisits the "adventurous and complicated life" of Gaugin from his childhood in Peru and France, to the "galvanising energy" of the Paris art scene, his meetings with Vincent van Gogh and August Strindberg to his preoccupation with French Polynesia. 

Prideaux said: “My interest in Gauguin was sparked by new sources and discoveries. His key manuscript, lost for a century, reappeared in 2020 and his catalogue raisonné was only completed in 2021. And then there was the untranslated memoir written by his son in Norwegian, my mother tongue. I’ve loved finding out about him and I hope that readers will too.” 

Hassan added: “Sue has taken on Munch, Strindberg, Nietzsche and now Gauguin, what a roll call of difficult men. I loved this evocative, richly drawn life which invites us to see Gauguin and the art anew. Her writing is electric.” 

With additional reporting by Robin Lankester Jones.