Granta acquires 'marvel of fiction' by Welsh author Davies

Granta has acquired two novels by the prize-winning author Carys Davies. Clear will publish in March 2024 with a second untitled novel to follow.

Granta’s m.d. and publishing director Bella Lacey acquired UK and Commonwealth rights (excluding Canada) from Anna Webber at United Agents, on behalf of Bill Clegg at The Clegg Agency. North American rights were acquired by Nan Graham at Scribner.

The synopsis reads: “Set in the 1840s, Clear is the story of three characters: John Ferguson, a Scottish minister who accepts a commission to ‘clear’ the last remaining inhabitant from a small and remote island beyond Shetland, in order to give the land over to sheep; his wife Mary, anxious at her husband undertaking the potentially perilous journey; and Ivar, the island’s occupant, who doesn’t speak their language and has no intention of leaving. What ensues forces all three to test their deepest held convictions and beliefs, setting their lives on a new course.”

Lacey said of the acquisition: “Clear is a marvel of fiction. It explores the distances and connections between us, the way that history affects the individual and how the human spirit can prevail against the odds. Perfectly constructed, surprising at every turn, and written in exquisite, sensitive and bewitching prose, it’s an intensely pleasurable and moving book. I’m thrilled to be working with Carys Davies again, and to be publishing this spell-binding novel at Granta.”

Davies added: “I’m absolutely delighted to be working with Bella again, and with everyone at Granta in the UK and at Scribner in the US. They bring such passion and care, such imagination and belief, to the books they publish – I couldn’t be happier that Clear is in their hands.”