Gray's 'irresistibly enjoyable' split-reality debut goes to Mountain Leopard Press

Headline’s freshly launched Mountain Leopard Press imprint will publish Versions of a Girl, the fiction debut of The Unexpected Joy of Being Sober author Catherine Gray in July 2024.

UK and Commonwealth rights were acquired by former Welbeck publisher Jon Elek from Rachel Mills of Rachel Mills Literary. Assistant editor Ellie Freedman will publish the book through the recently launched Mountain Leopard Press – previously known as Welbeck Fiction – in July 2024. Jason Richman, partner and co-head of media rights at UTA, is representing the book for film and TV adaptation.

The blurb reads: “Versions of a Girl is a warm and brilliantly wise novel about growing up that asks the question: Do we become who we are because of our parents, or in spite of them? 

“Fern’s mother is a social climber and a former ballet dancer who lives a plush life in a London townhouse. Fern’s father only climbs if there’s a bottle at the top, has an IQ of 133 and lives hand-to-mouth in Californian motels.

“Aged 14, Fern has spent equal time with each of her parents. That is, until an unexpected visitor triggers a life-changing dilemma: whether she should get on a plane to London to be with her mother, or stay in California with her father. Here, Fern’s narrative splices in two. 

“Two possible lives, one person. Each Fern will grow in wildly different, but eerily similar directions. Both must determine who they want to be – and how they deal with a thorny problem which threatens to undo them all: a murder.”

Gray’s non-fiction The Unexpected Joy series (Octopus) has been translated into 10 languages.

Gray said: “Versions of a Girl was born out of an urgent curiosity about the interplay between nature and nurture. When I wrote the first draft, I was pregnant and obsessed with learning about how parenting styles can propel us. It’s true that we repeat what we don’t repair, but what’s also true is that we can circuit-break those generational cycles.

“I loved working with Jon Elek and Welbeck on the very early incarnation of the book, and in this case lightning struck twice, given I then found an excellent fit with the brilliantly instinctive Ellie Freedman and Mountain Leopard Press. I can’t wait to see what the world makes of our split-reality creation.”

Freedman said: “I am proud to be publishing Catherine Gray’s richly imaginative debut novel about growing up. Versions of a Girl has everything that made us all fall in love with Catherine’s non-fiction – it is deeply empathetic, truthful, funny and irresistibly enjoyable.

“Catherine has an extraordinary ability to tackle sensitive subjects, such as addiction and toxic family relationships with so much warmth and humour, the book is a pleasure to read from beginning to end. I can’t wait for readers to meet Fern, and to launch Catherine as a voice in fiction that we should all be paying attention to.”