HarperFiction signs two books from Geraghty

Irish author Ciara Geraghty has signed a new two-book fiction deal with HarperFiction.

Publisher Lynne Drew acquired for world rights from Ger Nichol at the Book Bureau. The first of the two novels will be published in 2023 and centres on a woman hitting midlife and reassessing everything in her life.

The publisher said of the untitled book: "The heroine, Agatha Doyle, is a novelist and, up until recently, was happily married, enjoying her empty nest after raising her family, writing historical fiction in her attic office. Until menopause barged through her door and draped itself all over her life. Now Agatha seems to have a terminal bout of writers’ block and a deadline looming. Her once quiet home is now filled to bursting with the return of her two grown-up-ish sons, not to mention her father, who has moved in while his house is being refurbished to accommodate the new love of his life. Even though the old love of his life, Agatha’s mother, is barely cold in her grave. Her husband is busy trying to save his café from the deadly strain of gentrification that has infested the area of late. Oh, and he’s probably having an affair with his new assistant, the vibrant and alluring Fernanda.

"Nobody would blame Agatha for having a meltdown. So that’s what she does. At a literary festival. Which is how she accidentally becomes the pin-up girl for menopausal women everywhere. Is there life after menopause, these women want to know? Agatha has no idea…"

Drew said: "Ciara’s Geraghty’s dry wit, strong characters and incredible insights into human emotions always make her novels a treat. It’s been so rewarding to see her readership grow with her latest novels, both at home and internationally, and I can’t wait to take this new book, with its topical themes of midlife women, menopause, family and home, out to an even bigger audience."

Geraghty said: "Menopausal women are exciting, unpredictable and mercurial. Who knows what they might do next? But as a reader, I wasn’t seeing these women on the page. Then Agatha Doyle barged into my head and refused to leave until I promised to write her, in all her menopausal, middle-aged, complicated glory. I am delighted that HarperCollins agrees that Agatha Doyle is a heroine that the world needs right now."