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Orion Fiction has acquired Brooding, a “heartbreaking” and “compulsive” book club novel about the complex expectations of motherhood from début novelist Celia Silvani.
Publisher Sam Eades and assistant editor Sanah Ahmed bought world rights, including screen rights, from Hannah Schofield at LBA. Brooding will be published in summer 2024 in e-book, audio and hardback, and mass market paperback in 2025.
According to the synopsis, isolated, vulnerable and newly pregnant Claire decides she’s tired of doctors treating her like she is on a conveyor belt and of her younger boss’ increasing hostility. She’s tired too of her husband’s judgement over her googling what could go wrong.
She finds herself drawn to an online group for "natural motherhood" and is warmly embraced by the sisterhood. But as Claire withdraws further into their world and her due date approaches, it becomes clear that there is a devastating cost of blind – and complete – loyalty.
Silvani said: “I’ve always been fascinated by online communities and the way people communicate behind the mask of anonymity. Brooding explores how the internet can feed into pregnancy and health anxiety, and why some women choose to free-birth.”
Eades commented: “Brooding is a thought-provoking story about what happens when the choices we make look different from those around us. It taps into the conversations that people are having about free-birthing – the choice to give birth outside of the medical system – on TikTok and other social media platforms.
“Celia writes her characters with such insight, warmth and nuance that even if you don’t fully understand their decisions, you understand them and care for the characters.”
Schofield said the début had her up in the middle of the night consumed by Silvani’s characters and “the claustrophobic world she has created”.