HarperFiction pre-empts Grace Dent's first adult novel

HarperFiction has pre-empted journalist and food writer Grace Dent’s adult début novel, a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the “ego-fuelled world of fine dining”.

Martha Ashby, HarperFiction editorial director, bought UK and Commonwealth rights in the novel—and another title—from Cathryn Summerhayes at Curtis Brown.

The as yet untitled "mouth-wateringly good" novel—scheduled to be released in March 2023—is centred around women in the culinary world: the wife of a top chef who long buried her own ambitions, a PR boss who protects her clients at all costs and the “up-and-coming food writer who knows where all the bodies are buried”.  

Ashby said: "There is no one who can spill the details on professional kitchens quite like [Dent], nor is better able to write about the connection between food and love with such poise, passion and emotional depth. This delicious treat of a book is going to satisfy appetites for fierce, funny, feminist fiction and leave you wanting more."

Dent has had a long career in journalism and began writing regularly on food for the Evening Standard in 2011 and has been the Guardian’s restaurant critic since 2018. Hungry, her memoir of going from growing up in Carlisle eating “beige food” to becoming a food writer, was published last year by HC imprint Mudlark. It has sold over 12,000 units through BookScan’s data-deprived 2020 and is on the shortlist for the Fortnum & Mason Debut Food Book of the Year, which is to be awarded in July. Dent has also written 11 teen fiction titles, including the Diary of a Chav and Diary of a Snob series for Hodder Children’s.

Dent said: “These books are the itch I’ve been dying to scratch for years. I’m so delighted that HarperCollins is helping me bring me to bring to the page all the skulduggerous twists and scandalous pleasures of the restaurant world. Food, I’ve always said, is only a tiny part of this scene. The rest is a potent blend of ego, passion, betrayal, gossip and tireless fight to be the best behind the stoves. It’s a lifestyle I just can’t quit… and now I get to share its secrets.”