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HarperNorth signs Nichol’s ‘wildly entertaining’ rom-com with a mission
HarperNorth has acquired No Worries If Not! by Lucy Nichol, described as “a rom-com with edge that asks why women find it so hard not to say sorry".
Publishing director Genevieve Pegg acquired world rights from Jo Bell at Bell Lomax Moreton and will publish in August 2023 in paperback, e-book and audio.
Pegg said: “With huge heart and sharp humour, Lucy’s novel hits a nerve – finding out why so many of us catch ourselves apologising for our own ideas, questions and sometimes even our actual presence…and asking what would happen to one woman’s career, friendships and love life if she tried, just tried, to ban the word ‘sorry’ from her vocab.
“A love story with all the messy bits of life left in, No Worries If Not! is wildly entertaining, brilliantly honest and made me immediately want to leap on a train to Newcastle to visit the places that come to life so brilliantly in the story."
Nichol is an author, mental health campaigner and PR specialist who lives and works in Newcastle. Her previous books include her self-published novels The Twenty Seven Club and Parklife and two non-fiction books, Snowflake (Welbeck Balance) and A Series of Unfortunate Stereotypes (Trigger).
She said: “We spend our lives apologising for doing absolutely nothing wrong — or worse — for doing perfectly wonderful and lovely things. Whether we’re apologising for daring to put forward a brilliant idea at work or having the audacity to invite a mate to the pub, it’s a societal trait that does us no favours.
“I’ve regularly apologised for being arrogant enough to call myself a professional author, so writing this book has been pure catharsis. And, in the spirit of being unapologetic, I’ll add that it’s a fun book that’ll make you laugh, smile in recognition and, hopefully, break up with needless apologies too. If you’ve got time to read it that is…I know how busy you all are…huge TBR [to be read] piles etc, etc so, by all means give it a go if you fancy it but, honestly, no worries if not…”
