Fig Tree signs 'unsettling' rental horror-inspired debut

Fig Tree has bought a debut inspired by rental horror stories, I Want To Go Home But I’m Already There, by journalist Róisín Lanigan. 

Helen Garnons-Williams, publishing director at Fig Tree, acquired UK and Commonwealth from Kat Aitken at United Agents. 

The synopsis reads: “Aine and Elliot have somehow – miraculously, bewilderingly – found a flat they can afford to rent. It’s in a nice(ish) area, it doesn’t seem to be falling apart, and it even has a garden, so Aine tries her best to overlook the fact that it takes an hour and two buses to get anywhere, that there’s something unsettling about the upstairs neighbours, and that the flat makes her feel uneasy in a way that she can’t quite shake. 

“While everyone around her occupies themselves with work, socials, home renovation Instagram accounts, engagement parties and the noble pursuit of dog ownership, Aine’s relationship begins to fracture and she finds herself slowly losing her grasp on reality. Nobody believes that the house is haunted. Nobody believes it’s smothering the life out of her.” 

Fig Tree said: “The idea for the novel came to Róisín when she realised all haunted house stories are essentially about the horror of owning property, and she wanted to write something about the Millennial equivalent of this: the horror of not owning a property, but still having to live in housing that is overpriced and carries with it the psychological history of hundreds of anonymous tenants. When faced with ‘The Property Market’, where is there to run but to another terrible tenancy?” 

The publisher added: “Unsettling, darkly funny, and mesmerisingly relatable, I Want to Go Home But I’m Already There is a ghost story set in the rental crisis. A wonderfully clear-eyed portrait of loneliness, love and belonging, it brilliantly examines what it means to feel at home.”

Lanigan is an editor and writer based in London and Belfast. Her work has appeared in i-D, the New York Times, Financial Times, Atlantic, New Statesman and the London Magazine, among other publications. She was longlisted for the Curtis Brown First Novel Prize in 2019 and winner of the Blue Pencil Agency First Novel Award in 2020. 

Lanigan said: “I am over the moon to be publishing my first novel with Fig Tree. Helen and the team instantly understood Aine and the strange and stifling world (and flat) she lives in. I Want To Go Home But I’m Already There is a real labour of love created in a succession of homes that are not mine, but I’m absolutely delighted that it’s found its own home here.”

Garnons-Williams said: “Nearly everyone has a rental horror story, and in Róisín Lanigan’s exceptional debut she deftly explores this idea in a way that is by turns chilling, hilarious, insightful and poignantly unforgettable. She is a hugely talented writer and we are thrilled to welcome her to the Fig Tree imprint.”