HarperFiction lands 'incredibly moving' historical thriller from debut author Ramunno

HarperFiction has landed a historical thriller from debut author Oriana Ramunno. 

Kathryn Cheshire, commissioning editor, acquired UK and commonwealth rights to Ashes in the Snow from Piergiorgio Nicolazzini of Piergiorgio Nicolazzini Literary Agency. It will publish in October 2022.  

Set in Auschwitz in the Christmas of 1943, Ashes in the Snow opens when a young Jewish boy imprisoned in the camp finds the body of an SS officer. Detective Hugo Fischer is sent to investigate, but soon he is confronted not only with a complex murder, but with a truth – that of the Final Solution. And he must decide who, if anyone, he should try to save. 

Ramunno has previously written prize-winning crime novellas and short stories in various magazines. Her debut novel is inspired by the story of her great-uncle who was detained in the Flossenbürg concentration camp. The book is dedicated to him. 

Cheshire said: “I am truly delighted to be publishing Ashes in the Snow, which is an incredibly moving, authentic and powerful detective story set in Auschwitz. Oriana’s personal connection with the history really comes across in her writing, and this is a story that I know will stay with readers long after they have finished it.” 

Ramunno said: “I have always been a wanderer: born in Italy, I have lived in Spain, South Africa and Germany. It took me a long time to process, through historical research, my obsession with a painful and deeply moving memory and turn it into a narrative work. Now, the fact that my novel has been accepted by an appreciative editor from a major publisher like HarperCollins UK and released in English, a language that crosses all borders, fills me with joy and makes me feel truly a citizen of the world.” 

Translator Katherine Gregor added: “Oriana Ramunno’s descriptions are so vivid that as I was translating Ashes in the Snow, I found myself immersed in that dark period in our history. Her characters also felt so real that I was having conversations with them in my head.”