Mantle and Picador sign Everett's new novel

Mantle and Picador have signed the "extraordinary" new novel from Percival Everett entitled James.

Maria Rejt, publisher, acquired UK and Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada, from Peter Straus at RCW on behalf of Melanie Jackson at the Melanie Jackson Agency in New York. James will be published by Mantle as a lead title in hardback, e-book and audio on 11th April 2024 with Picador publishing the paperback as a lead title in spring 2025.

James is a "heart-breaking, accessible" and "powerfully told" novel which follows Jim from Mark Twain’s classic, The Adventures of Huckleberry Fin. Readers will see Twain’s work in a "new light" as Jim takes centre stage in Everett’s novel.

Rejt commented: "Since reading James I have not stopped thinking about it. Percival Everett’s novel shows us so beautifully – within the darkest of worlds – how goodness and humanity can shine through and triumph.

"There are so many scenes throughout James’s odyssey that will stay with me, and each shows the reader with unerring clarity the burden that Jim must carry: the family he cannot protect, the constant lie he must live, the moment he is told the price that has been paid for a pencil. Jim’s story is heartbreaking but so very courageous. His voice is humble and steadfast, dignified and poignant."