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Faber seizes Keneally's 'unforgettable' new novel Fanatic Heart
Faber has seized Thomas Keneally’s "unforgettable" new novel, Fanatic Heart, which will be published in the the UK and Ireland in November.
Associate publisher Louisa Joyner and commissioning editor Libby Marshall acquired UK and Commonwealth rights (excluding ANZ) from Sam Copeland at RCW.
The synopsis says: "Summer, 1847. People are getting used to the corpses lying by the road and along the ditches. For John Mitchel – lawyer, journalist, activist, politician – the word ‘famine’ will forever conjure the hollowed faces of Ireland’s dead, the liquid Irish of the past now mute on their tongues.
"Propelled by disgust at the injustice, Mitchel will do all he can to fight for the destitute, the starved, the forgotten. His odyssey will take him all the way to America – that land of promise – but it will draw him into a terrible paradox, blurring the lines that divide liberation from dispossession and forcing him to ask: can one act of devastating cruelty and oppression prevent another?"
Marshall commented: "Thomas Keneally is a titan of literature who has never shied away from tales of deep moral and emotional complexity. Fanatic Heart – a moving, elegant and profound work that sheds light on some of the darkest events of history – is no exception. We are incredibly proud to welcome Thomas Keneally to the Faber list with this unforgettable novel."
Keneally’s novels include The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (Penguin Books), Schindler’s Ark (Sceptre) and The People’s Train (Sceptre). He has won the Miles Franklin Award, the Booker Prize, the Los Angeles Times Prize, the Mondello International Prize.
The author has also been made a "literary lion" of the New York Public Library and a fellow of the American Academy. He is a recipient of the University of California gold medal and is now the subject of a 55-cent Australian stamp.
He said: "I am delighted to have been chosen for publication by a literary publisher renowned and admired for it, Faber and Faber. When I was writing my first book in Sydney just under 60 years past, I wanted to send it to Faber and Faber, but thought the material not good enough.
"And now, at the age of 87, a book of mine has been chosen for publication by them, and whatever I write for the rest of my fortunate life will be for them. Australians are asking me why I’m visibly smiling when England won the Third Test. It is, at last, Faber and Faber."
