Hodder nets 'twisty and compulsive' Jayatissa thriller

Hodder & Stoughton has acquired Sri Lankan author Amanda Jayatissa’s debut thriller, My Sweet Girl, in a two-book deal.

Senior commissioning editor Eve Hall acquired UK and Commonwealth rights from Tawanna Sullivan at Berkley, PRH US. My Sweet Girl will publish in e-book, audio and trade paperback in September 2021.

My Sweet Girl tells the story of Paloma, who ever since she was adopted by an American couple from a Sri Lankan orphanage has had the best of everything – schools, money, and parents so perfect that Paloma fears she'll never live up to them. At 30, Paloma has managed to disappoint her parents so thoroughly that their relationship will never recover. Unemployed and friendless, things get worse when her flatmate Arun uncovers her darkest secret, one that could jeopardise her fragile place in the US. And even worse still when Arun turns up dead.

Hall said: "My Sweet Girl is fiendishly clever, wonderfully twisty and completely addictive. Most of all, it’s driven by Paloma’s uniquely cutting voice and a wit that you can’t help but love. I’m delighted to be able to publish this novel and whatever other brilliant thrillers Amanda has waiting up her sleeve."

Jayatissa added: "I’ve had such a blast writing this complex, sassy character whose experiences of being a brown woman navigating typically white spaces has largely mirrored my own (minus the body count!). I loved working on a story set both in Sri Lanka and San Francisco and am beyond thrilled to be working with Eve and the team at Hodder & Stoughton."

Jayatissa grew up in Sri Lanka, attended college in Northern California, and lived in the UK before moving back to Sri Lanka.