Harvill Secker pre-empts 'entrancing’ debut novel from Julia Kelly in six-figure deal 

Harvill Secker has pre-empted an “entrancing” debut novel about thwarted love and buried secrets in a Scottish fishing village from Julia Kelly. 

Publishing director Liz Foley acquired UK and Commonwealth rights to The Fisherman’s Gift in a six-figure deal from Hellie Ogden at WME, with publication set for March 2025. US rights were sold at auction to Carina Guiterman at Simon & Schuster by Dorian Karchmar at WME. James Munro has closed auctions in France (JC Lattès), Germany (Mare Verlag), Italy (Mondadori) and with Cappelen Damm in Norway. 

The Fisherman’s Gift begins in winter, 1900, when a young boy washes up on the beach of a small fishing village in Scotland, barely alive. “He bears an uncanny resemblance to teacher Dorothy’s son, lost to the sea at the same age many years before”, the synopsis says. “The village is soon snowed in, and Dorothy agrees to look after the boy until he can be returned home. But as the past rises to meet the present, long-buried memories surface within this tight-knit community. And the boy’s arrival becomes a catalyst for something far greater than any of them could realise.” 

Kelly is a writer and teacher who lives in Herefordshire. She has been longlisted for the Mslexia Novel Prize, the Exeter Novel Prize, PenguinWriteNow and the Bath Novel Award. In 2021 she won the Blue Pencil First Novel Award. 

Foley said: “The whole team here at Harvill and Vintage fell for Julia’s evocative writing and we’re so excited to be bringing her poignant story of a small community’s secrets and heartaches to readers next year.” 

Kelly added: “I am excited to be working with Liz Foley, whose vision for the novel and reaction to its themes and characters are everything I could have hoped for in an editor. The same is true for Carina Guiterman at Simon & Schuster US. I am so grateful to my wonderful, dream-maker agent, Hellie Ogden, whose belief in this story from the beginning has sustained me through a very challenging few years. And to Ma’suma and Dorian and all at WME. I am also grateful to the Blue Pencil Award, where it all started!”