Fairlight acquires 1920s tale through open submissions programme

Indie Fairlight Books has acquired Richard Smyth’s novel The Woodcock, a literary period drama set on the north-east coast of England.

The publisher acquired world rights (including audio) to the title though its open submissions programme. 

Set in 1920s England, the fictional town of Gravely is enjoying peace after the end of World War One. John Lowell and his wife Harriet lead a simple life and are enjoying the the company of John's visiting school friend, David. But when an American whaler arrives in town with his beautiful red-haired daughters, boasting of his plans to build a pier and pleasure-grounds a mile out to sea, unexpected tensions and temptations arise.

Fairlight Books c.e.o. Louise Boland said: "I was gripped by this exquisite novel from the moment we discovered it. A naturalist himself, Richard paints the coastline into his drama so perfectly that it feels as if the kittiwakes and oyster-catchers, shore crabs and periwinkles become a third protagonist in this gripping drama about the price to be paid for the ambitions of men."

Smyth is a nature writer who contributes to the Guardian, the Times Literary Supplement, the New Statesman and Bird Watching. He has previously written non-fiction, including An Indifference of Birds (Uniformbooks, 2020).