#Merky Books swoops for Radojevic’s 'blazing' debut novel and short story collection

#Merky Books has acquired a “blazing” debut novel, Strangerland, and a “bold” short story collection, A Beautiful Lack of Consequence, by Monika Radojevic, winner of the inaugural #Merky Books New Writing Prize in 2019 alongside Hafsa Zayyan.

Publishing director Charlotte Cray acquired world rights for print, digital and audiobook from Abi Fellows when she was at The Good Literary Agency. #Merky Books will publish A Beautiful Lack of Consequence in April 2025 and Strangerland in summer 2026.

In A Beautiful Lack of Consequence, Radojevic explores the myriad ways in which the world bends and often breaks women through societal pressure, the publisher says: “From women in bars, to women in wild, imaginary landscapes, to those falling in love for the first time, discovering anger, finding, or losing their voices – every story in A Beautiful Lack of Consequence dissects rage and hope, and demands change.”

Strangerland is the love story of Alegria and Zivoin, a pair who fall in love and marry within three months of meeting each other despite not sharing a language, country or culture. 

Its synopsis continues: “When this new couple give up their entire lives to settle in London, as immigrants, they must navigate a city of bristling hostility and racism, and test their fledgling love as they face challenges together all whilst sending money back to their families. Straddling themes of flight and home, love and sacrifice, the magic of this story is that it is also a true one."

Radojevic’s #Merky Books New Writing Prize-winning collection, Teeth in the Back of my Neck, was published by #Merky Books in February 2022.

Cray said: “It’s incredibly exciting to see Radojevic take flight as a prose writer. These stories are beset with women at tumultuous junctures, I sailed through them with shock and glee. And Strangerland promises to be an epic and poignant love story of a star-struck pair confronting an unrelenting new homeland. These are going to be some very exciting years.”

Radojevic commented: “A Beautiful Lack of Consequence explores the ramifications women face simply for existing, and envisions a world free of restraint, where powerful or transgressive women are never struck down for being exactly who they want to be.

“Strangerland will be a fictionalised retelling of how my parents met, their unbelievable love story, and the barriers they overcame as immigrants in the UK in the early 1990s. It’s been a lifelong dream of mine to tell their story, because it is truly incredible, and I am delighted that #Merky Books have given this book a home.”