HarperNorth buys Jo Bell's 'transporting' tribute to canal life

HarperCollins non-fiction commissioning editor Ben McConnell has bought Boater: Life on England’s Waterways by Jo Bell, 15 years after he was a bookseller near her mooring in Macclesfield.

The inaugural Canal and River Trust laureate, Bell is also an archaeologist and award-winning poet.

McConnell acquired UK and Commonwealth rights from Rachel Crawford at Wolf Literary. The book will be published in hardback, e-book and audio in summer 2025.

McConnell said: "I first met Jo in 2009, when I was a bookseller at the bookshop near her mooring in Macclesfield, and was—as I continue to be to this day—in awe of her incredible talent, not just as a writer and poet, but as an individual who can delineate complex, historically rich concepts with ease and humour.

"Jo’s personal connection and long-standing fascination with our waterways flow through the lyrical prose and time-travelling vignettes, offering a truly transporting account of how an incredible array of people built industries, lives and cultures unique to our amazing canals."

Bell said: "Canal-dwelling is not a lifestyle but a life, and Boater is not the usual travelogue but, instead, is a personal history based on my insights as an industrial archaeologist, a writer and boat-dweller. I hope it will become a landmark of waterways literature in the tradition of Tom Rolt.

"It is good to have the commitment and kudos of Harper behind me, and doubly right to have a northern imprint for this book. Its appearance next year will be thanks to the solid, nay obsessive, determination of Ben McConnell, who has championed it constantly, and my agent Rachel Crawford."

The blurb for Boater reads: "Following Bell’s own journey along the country’s waterways, Boater uses the author’s story as a backdrop to discuss the history, politics and cultural significance of the UK’s biggest, game-changing engineering feat to come out of the Industrial Revolution: the canal system.

"Beautifully written, erudite and eloquent in its discussion of big ideas, Boater sits comfortably alongside the likes of Lara Maiklem, Helen Macdonald and Raynor Winn."