Picador acquires Tim Winton’s Juice for autumn 2024  

Sophie Jonathan, publishing director at Picador, has acquired UK and Commonwealth rights, excluding Australia, to Juice by twice Booker-shortlisted author Tim Winton from Veronique Baxter at David Higham, on behalf of Jenny Darling. 

The synopsis says: “Two fugitives, a man and a child, drive all night across a stony desert. And as dawn breaks, they roll into an abandoned mine site. From the vehicle they survey a forsaken place – middens of twisted iron, rusty wire, piles of sun-baked trash. They’re exhausted, traumatised, desperate now. But as a refuge, this is the most promising place they’ve seen. The child peers at the field of desolation. The man thinks to himself, this could work. Problem is, they’re not alone, and to survive our man is going to have to start talking. Storytelling for his life . . .” 

Jonathan said Juice, which will publish in October 2024, is “a novel that pulses with urgency, rage, and boundless love for the world”. She added: “It is both a jaw-dropping adventure and a novel that reflects on the way we live now and asks us to imagine the future we could be creating, and where real criminality is hiding in plain sight. To read Juice is to be stunned and entertained, it is to be angered and moved. It is a war cry, and a gorgeous fight for survival, a novel about human determination, our need for justice, our drive to remember our stories. It is a masterpiece and I couldn’t be prouder that Picador will be publishing Tim in the UK.”