Fitzcarraldo nets Langley's 'exhilarating' second novel

Fitzcarraldo has netted Patrick Langley’s second "bold" novel, The Variations. 

Publisher Jacques Testard acquired world rights directly from the author. The novel will be published in the UK in September 2023. 

"It’s been thrilling to work with Patrick Langley on his second novel with Fitzcarraldo Editions, following his debut Arkady in 2018," commented Testard. "The Variations is a bold, immersive novel, and Langley a brilliant stylist and storyteller. I’m excited to see the book out in the world next autumn and hope everyone will love it as much as I do." 

The Variations is a "novel of startling originality about music and difficulty – or impossibility – of living with the past". The synopsis reads: "Selda Heddle, a famously reclusive composer, is found dead in a snowy field near her Cornish home. She was educated at Agnes’s Hospice for Acoustically Gifted Children, which for centuries has offered its young wards a grounding in the gift – an inherited ability to tune into the voices and sounds of the past. When she dies, Selda’s gift passes down to her grandson Wolf, who must make sense of her legacy, and learn to live with the newly unleashed voices in his head."

Langley commented: "I’m delighted to be publishing my second novel with Fitzcarraldo Editions. They’re the most exciting publisher in the UK and their commitment to their authors is a rare and commendable thing. To be part of such an invigorating list, with its avowedly internationalist outlook, is a real honour."