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Orion Fiction has unveiled Joanne Harris’ first standalone novel in 15 years, Broken Light, a “bold and timely exploration of the way women can feel invisible as they grow older, and what happens when they try to take back control”.
Sarah Benton acquired UK and Commonwealth rights from Jon Wood at RCW, for publication in May 2023 as the first novel in a four-book, six-figure deal brokered earlier this year. Harris’ last standalone novel was Coastliners, published by Transworld in 2010.
The publisher describes Broken Light as “part thriller, part coming of age drama” and “a story of growth and redemption, revenge and visibility, friendship and self-discovery”. It tells the story of Bernie Moon, whose own ambitions and dreams have been forgotten by everyone else – including Bernie herself. At 19 she was full of promise, but now facing 50 and going through the menopause, she’s a fading light until the murder of a woman in a local park unlocks a series of childhood memories, and with them, a talent she has hidden all her adult life.
Harris, author of more than 20 novels as well as novellas, scripts, short stories, libretti, lyrics and articles, wrote Broken Light as an homage to Stephen King’s Carrie and the idea that “in literature and the media, power is often given to the young.”
In 2000, her 1999 novel Chocolat was adapted for the screen, starring Juliette Binoche and Johnny Depp. She is an honorary fellow of St Catharine’s College, Cambridge, is chair of the Society of Authors and was recently named as one the Fellows of Royal Society of Literature for 2022.
Benton, executive publisher for Orion Fiction and Gollancz, said: “Broken Light blew me away on my first reading: urgent, visceral and fast-paced, I fell hard for Bernie and her story. This feels like the book Joanne has been waiting to write for years, and I can’t wait to publish it.”
Harris said: “I’m so happy to be able to share this book with you; the story of a menopausal woman who realizes that what she once thought of as a curse is in fact a superpower.”