Jonathan Cape signs debut short story collection from Leviston

Jonathan Cape has scooped UK and Commonwealth rights to Frances Leviston’s story collection The Voice in My Ear.

Senior editor Ana Fletcher signed the poet’s first set of short stories from Alba Ziegler-Bailey at The Wylie Agency. The collection will be published March 2020.

The Voice in My Ear explores themes of power dynamics throughout ten stories, each from the point of view of a different woman called Claire. According to the synopsis: “No matter her age or background, Claire is living in the shadow of a monstrous mother.”

Leviston is the critically acclaimed author of two poetry collections, Public Dream and Disinformation. In 2015 she was shortlisted for the BBC Short Story Award. She lives in Durham and is a lecturer in creative writing at the University of Manchester.

Fletcher said: “The Voice in My Ear is everything I look for in fiction: intelligent, funny, sharp, insightful and seemingly effortless. Frances has already established herself as a poet of serious talent, and I’m absolutely delighted that we at Cape get to launch what will undoubtedly be a very brilliant career as a fiction writer.”