Granta signs Homes' first novel in a decade
Granta has landed The Unfolding, a "dark, funny and prescient" novel by A M Homes, her first in 10 years.
The publisher acquired UK and Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada and including audio rights. Described as a "satirical, state of the nation novel", the book will be published as Granta’s superlead for autumn, backed by a wide-reaching campaign. Released on Thursday 15th September, Homes will be in the UK to promote the book for the week of publication.
"The Big Guy loves his family, money and democracy," the synopsis states. "Undone by the results of the 2008 presidential election, he taps a group of like-minded men to reclaim their version of America. As they build a scheme to disturb and disrupt, the Big Guy also faces turbulence closer to home and must take responsibility for his past actions.
"Closely guarded family secrets begin to surface when his wife Charlotte stops self-medicating to numb her emotions. And when 18-year-old Megan votes for the first time, she awakens to the dissonance between her father’s expectations and her own dreams for the future.
"Dark, funny and prescient, The Unfolding explores the implosion of the dream and how we arrived in today’s divided world."
Homes is the author of the novels May We Be Forgiven, which won the Women’s Prize in 2013, This Book Will Save Your Life, a Richard & Judy Book Club pick in 2007, Music for Torching, The End of Alice, In a Country of Mothers and Jack (all Granta) and three collections of short stories. She is a contributing editor to Vanity Fair, writes frequently on arts and culture for numerous magazines and newspapers, and teaches creative writing at Princeton.
"A M Homes is one of the great contemporary American novelists," publishing director Bella Lacey said.
She added: As with Women’s Prize-winning May We Be Forgiven and Richard and Judy pick This Book Will Save Your Life, The Unfolding is a bold and entertaining exploration into the inner workings of American cultural life. Through the political awakenings of a rich cast of distinct characters during the transformative months between the presidential election and the inauguration – via Thanksgiving and Christmas – she tenderly examines the fractures of public and domestic life.
It’s an extraordinary state-of-the-nation novel, and its range and ambition is perfectly captured by Jamie Keenan’s beautifully vibrant cover design."
