Great pretender: Bloomsbury hooks Jo Harkin's move to historical fiction

Bloomsbury Publishing has acquired Jo Harkin’s move to historical fiction, with her novel based on Lambert Simnel, who claimed to be the Plantagenet heir to the English throne. 

Editorial director Allegra Le Fanu bought UK and Commonwealth rights, including audio, to Harkin’s The Pretender from Felicity Blunt at Curtis Brown in a four-way auction. Jordan Pavlin at Knopf acquired US rights from UTA’s Christy Fletcher. Publication is scheduled for spring 2025 and will backed by an international marketing and publicity campaign.

The book is inspired by the real story of Simnel and starts in 1480 during the height of the War of the Roses, when 12-year-old John’s joyful, bucolic village life is upended when a stranger arrives and tells him he is not really "John", but the son of the long-deceased Duke of Clarence. The stranger then bundles John away, first to Oxford, then to Burgundy, and then to Ireland in order to keep the boy safe. "And John can do nothing but pray to be returned to the life and family he has always known. Far from home at the Irish court, with only the option to become king or die trying, he has just his wits—and the counsel of his host’s daughter, the unconventional and Machiavellian Joan—to navigate the choppy waters ahead."

Berkshire-based Harkin’s first book was the speculative novel Tell Me an Ending, published in 2022 by Penguin in the UK and Simon & Schuster in North America.   

Le Fanu said: "I am thrilled to welcome Jo Harkin to Bloomsbury. The Pretender captivated the entire team with its wit, braininess, verve, energy and heart. I cannot wait for the world to meet John/Lambert/Simnel—and the unforgettable Joan."