Fairlight to publish reimagining of Dickens’ Great Expectations

Fairlight Books will publish Gill Darling’s debut novel Erringby, billed as a literary drama and loose reimagining of Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations, unfolding against the changing cultural landscape of the 1970s, '80s and '90s. 

Worldwide rights, including audio, were acquired through Fairlight's open submissions programme.

The synopsis reads: "Kit is waiting expectantly for life to begin. Orphaned as a young child, he recoils from his adoptive parents’ mundane existence, drawn instead to the bohemian world of his Uncle Col and Col’s charismatic wife Marianne. After Kit’s adoptive mother suffers a breakdown, he is sent to stay at Erringby, Marianne’s rambling family mansion, where, immersed in her hedonistic lifestyle, he becomes increasingly obsessed with his aunt.

"One particularly debauched summer in 1986, the 18-year-old Kit wakes to find himself in bed with Marianne. But what happened? And who is his sudden mysterious benefactor? As Kit grapples with the ramifications of that night and questions his own identity, he, Marianne and Col find their lives spiralling out of control."

Erringby will be published on 17th June 2021.