Fourth Estate scoops debut novel from journalist Petter

Fourth Estate has scooped the debut novel from journalist and host of the “Millennial Love” podcast, Olivia Petter.  

Michelle Kane, PR and publishing director, acquired world rights to Gold Rush from Emma Leong at Janklow & Nesbit. Publication is scheduled for summer 2024. 

Gold Rush is described as “a sharp, witty novel about expectation, consent, and celebrity culture”. It tells the story of Rose, a young woman who – on the surface – has everything going for her: classic beauty, an enviable career and a roommate who doesn’t charge her rent. But lately, she’s been finding it harder to breathe. Sleepless nights have returned, and even her friends have started shutting her out. Maybe she really is superficial, like an ex once told her. Or maybe there’s something wrong with her brain. Or maybe she just has daddy issues. As everything starts to slip away, Rose finds herself forced to piece together a night she still can’t quite remember. And the only person who can help happens to be one of the most famous men on the planet. 

Petter said: “Gold Rush is a story I’ve wanted to tell for a long time – and I owe it to Michelle for helping me realise that and giving me the opportunity to do it. It has been a lifelong dream of mine to write a novel and I’m so excited to put this one out into the world and feel connected to those who read and relate to it. Even though it’s fiction, this feels like my most personal piece of work to date, which is both terrifying and exhilarating in equal measure.” 

Kane added: “Olivia is such a fierce talent! Her first book, Millennial Love (Fourth Estate), demonstrated that she’s not afraid to take risks to excavate the darker underbelly of the twenty-something experience. With Gold Rush she’s applying that same fearlessness to deliver a perceptive, clever and propulsive novel that goes straight to the heart of so many contemporary issues, as well as having the reader race to the end to discover what fate lies ahead for her characters! I am so thrilled to be Olivia’s editor at Fouth Estate and the whole team cannot wait to publish Gold Rush, a novel we all know will have readers hooked from the very first line!”