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Jocasta Hamilton, executive publisher at John Murray, has pre-empted UK and Commonwealth rights to Sunbirds by Penelope Slocombe from Jo Unwin at JULA “for a good five figures”.
Inspired by the real-life mystery of the nearly two dozen Western travellers who disappeared in Northern India’s Kullu Valley between the mid 1990s and the early 2000s, Sunbirds is billed by the publisher as "a propulsive, emotionally intelligent debut about a woman’s search for her son, and herself”. It will publish 1st August 2024.
The synopsis says: “In 1997 Anne’s 18-year-old son Torran walked out of his hotel in the notorious Himalayan town of Manali – and disappeared. She’s been searching for him ever since. Seven years later, when Anne hears that he was living in a secluded community hidden in the lush but unpredictable Himalayan foothills she is convinced that she will, finally, find him. But gradually, Anne begins to understand that she’s been asking the wrong questions. And perhaps, instead of questioning what she did wrong, she needs to understand Torran’s choices and start making decisions about her own future.”
Slocombe said: “I am excited to be publishing my debut novel with John Murray. It is a personal story inspired not only by a real-life mystery, but by my own travels in India and experience of growing up between a tiny Hebridean island and a New-Age community.
"When I first read about these disappearances in an area known for both its incredible natural beauty and its dangerous drug trade, steeped in legend and spirituality, and so strikingly different to where most of these travellers had come from, it was the families – the parents – of those missing people who really intrigued me. How travelling to a place so far outside their own experience in search of their missing relative would change and shape them in ways they could never have imagined. In writing Sunbirds I wanted to explore the transformative power of loss, of grief, and of journeying beyond our comfort zones – both physically and emotionally - and I can’t wait for readers to share Anne’s journey.”