#Merky Books snaps up 'wry and witty' debut from Cai

Stormzy’s Penguin Random House (PRH) imprint #Merky Books has acquired the rights for Central Places, the début novel from US-based journalist Delia Cai. 

Assistant editor Tallulah Lyons acquired UK and Commonwealth rights from Lucy Morris at Curtis Brown on behalf of Caroline Eisenmann and Jade Wong-Baxter at Frances Goldin Literary Agency.

Central Places publishes today (31st January) in the US by Ballantine Books, an imprint of PRH. #Merky Books will publish in the UK in paperback, e-book and audio in November.

The novel follows Audrey Zhou, a newly engaged 27-year-old Chinese American woman who brings her white fiancé to her suburban Illinois hometown to meet her mother and father. 

The synopsis reads: “Audrey moved to New York City and became the person she always wanted to be, complete with a high-paying, high-pressure job and a seemingly faultless fiancé. Over the course of one disastrous week, Audrey’s proximity to her family and to an unrequited high school crush forces her to confront the past and re-examine her fraught connection to her roots before she undoes everything she’s worked toward and everything she’s imagined for herself.”

Cai said: “It’s an honour to find a home for Central Places at #Merky Books, where so much thoughtful work is done to elevate new voices and to change the game in storytelling. I’m thrilled to share Audrey’s Midwestern adventures with readers in the UK and especially with the greater Asian diasporic community around the world.”

Lyons said: “Wry, witty and funny in equal measure, Delia elegantly captures the nuances of returning home to a small town after moving away that many will relate to. Relatable characters, sharp prose and a pacy narrative make it an incredibly compelling read which you pick up and can’t put down until you’ve finished.”