Pan Mac gets Heartsick from Stephens

Pan Macmillan has signed Heartsick, the debut non-fiction book by Australian journalist Jessie Stephens.

Publisher Lucy Hale and editor Jayne Osborne acquired UK and Commonwealth rights, excluding Australia, New Zealand and Canada, from Pan Macmillan Australia. North American rights were sold at auction to Henry Holt. Pan Macmillan UK is also handling translation rights. Heartsick will be published in hardback in the UK in February 2022.

Pan Mac said: “Based on three true stories, Heartsick is a compelling narrative non-fiction account of the many lows and occasional surprising highs of heartbreak. Bruising, beautiful, achingly specific but wholeheartedly universal, it reminds us that emotional pain can make us as it breaks us, and that storytelling has the ultimate healing power.”

Published in Australia in March, it was an instant bestseller in both physical and digital formats and was praised by author Jane Harper as “thought-provoking, highly original and beautifully nuanced”.

Osborne said: “Jessie has written a deeply poignant, engrossing and vivid tribute to falling in love, and the singular agony of losing it. Heartsick is a book that readers everywhere will relate to and draw comfort from, and I'm utterly delighted that we're publishing it here in the UK.”

Stephens commented: “I'm so excited for Heartsick to find new readers in the UK. I've been overwhelmed by the feedback, and didn't realise until this book was released into the world, just how universal its themes are. This is a book about making anyone who has ever nursed a broken heart feel seen, understood and validated in their grief. Pan Macmillan UK is the perfect home and I hope readers love it.”