Phoenix nets ex-Faber editor Murray-Browne’s ‘enthralling’ novel

Phoenix has signed One Girl Began, the second novel by former Faber editor Kate Murray-Browne, inspired by the site of the 1888 match women’s strike in east London.

Publisher Francesca Main acquired UK and Commonwealth rights from Will Francis at Janklow & Nesbit.  It will be published in hardback by Phoenix in 2024.

The synopsis explains: "One Girl Began entwines the stories of three women, separated by history but connected by the same building. For Ellen in 1909, it is a box factory where she finds work and a transformative circle of friendship when her family fall on hard times. For Frances in 1984, it is a derelict ruin, where she joins a group of squatters and is drawn into a coercive relationship. And for Amanda in 2020, it is a gentrified conversion, where she finds herself trapped in a tiny flat and grappling with new motherhood as the pandemic looms into view.

"Over the span of 111 years these three women will come to haunt one another backwards and forwards in time, each immersed in the ripples of the lives that came before, and each struggling with the same questions of who to be and how to live."

Murray-Browne is the author of The Upstairs Room, which was published by Picador in 2017 and was a Times Book of the Year. She was an editor at Faber & Faber for eight years before going freelance in 2015.

Main said: “Imagine The Hours (Fourth Estate) set in Hackney and you have a hint of the rich pleasures that await in this enthralling novel. Immersive, moving and funny; tender, surprising and wise; I found it impossible to put down and impossible to stop thinking about.

“It’s a vibrant portrait of a rapidly evolving corner of east London and an expansive exploration of women’s lives that asks big questions about how much – or little – has changed over the past century. I loved publishing Kate Murray-Browne’s debut at Picador and am delighted to be reunited with her at Phoenix.”

Murray-Browne said: “Publishing The Upstairs Room with Francesca was such a happy and enriching experience, so I’m thrilled to be working with her again. I’m full of admiration for the list she is creating at Phoenix and excited to become part of it.”