Hutchinson lands 'hypnotic' third Towles novel

Hutchinson has landed the “hypnotic” new novel by bestselling author Amor Towles.

Cornerstone m.d. Venetia Butterfield acquired UK and Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada, to The Lincoln Highway from Matilda Forbes Watson at WME. Hutchinson will publish in hardback, audiobook and e-book on 5th October 2021.

The Lincoln Highway is the third novel by Amor Towles and follows A Gentleman in Moscow, which has sold over 3.6 million copies globally, according to the publisher. “Bursting with life, charm and unforgettable characters, The Lincoln Highway is an extraordinary journey through 1950s America from a master storyteller,” the Hutchinson said.

Its synopsis explains: “In June, 1954, 18-year-old Emmett Watson is driven home to Nebraska by the warden of the work farm where he has just served a year for involuntary manslaughter. His mother long gone, his father recently deceased, and the family farm foreclosed by the bank, Emmett's intention is to pick up his eight-year-old brother and head west where they can start their lives anew. But when the warden drives away, Emmett discovers that two friends from the work farm have hidden themselves in the trunk of the warden's car. Together, they have hatched an altogether different plan for Emmett's future.”

Towles said: “As a novelist, I like to mix it up. So, while Rules of Civility describes a year in the life of a 25-year-old woman who’s about to climb the socio-economic ladder of New York, A Gentleman in Moscow spans three decades with a Russian aristocrat who’s lost everything. My new novel, The Lincoln Highway, is about three 18-year-old boys and an eight-year-old boy on a journey from Nebraska to New York City in 1954—the whole story lasting just 10 days. While I think The Lincoln Highway will offer readers many of the same satisfactions of my first two novels, I hope it will provide them with not simply a new set of characters, settings, and themes, but a very different reading experience.”

Butterfield added: “The Lincoln Highway is a brilliant, fascinating, charming and hypnotic journey of a book. It’s playfully Homeric with glorious flashes of Steinbeck but yet it is an utterly fresh tale of kinship and adventure. As with A Gentleman In Moscow the characters become fond friends and exist long after you finish the last page.”