Gallic acquires two from French author Muriel Barbery

Gallic Books has acquired A Single Rose plus a gift book by Muriel Barbery, author of the The Elegance of the Hedgehog (Gallic, 2009).

A Single Rose, (known in French as Une Rose Seule), was published by Actes Sud in August 2020 and has sold over 30,000 copies and has been shortlisted for the Prix Jean Giono (the Jean Giono prize), the publisher said.

Jane Aitken, m.d. of Gallic, bought UK, Europe and Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada and Australia and New Zealand, from Nathalie Alliel at Actes Sud, with the English translation to publish in September 2021. 

The synopsis reads: "Drawing on the author’s own experience of living in Kyoto, where she was a writer in residence at the Villa Kujoyama for two years, the story follows 40-something French botanist Rose as she visits Japan for the first time after the death of the father she never knew. Staying in her father’s house and following the itinerary he has left her, touring temples and teahouses with his assistant, Paul, Rose begins to discover more about her past and herself."

Gallic also acquired a gift book written by Barbery and illustrated by Maria Guitart, described as an "entertaining insight into the role Barbery’s four cats play in her writing life". Published in France by Éditions de l’Observatoire in November 2020, The Author’s Cats will be available in the UK in time for Christmas 2021.