Picador wins four-way auction for Tarlow’s ‘unforgettable’ debut memoir 

Picador has triumphed in a four-way auction for The Archaeology of Loss: Life, Love and the Art of Dying, the debut memoir by Sarah Tarlow.

Gillian Fitzgerald-Kelly acquired UK and Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada, from Kirsty McLachlan at Morgan Green Creatives. The memoir will be published in hardback, trade paperback, e-book and audio in spring 2023.  

Tarlow is an accomplished archaeologist concerned with the ritual and belief behind the practice of grief. In 2012, she was awarded the chair in archaeology at the University of Leicester. However, in the years following her appointment, Tarlow’s husband Mark began to suffer from a progressive but undiagnosed illness. Though Tarlow has devoted her study to how we anticipate and experience grief, she was unprepared for the realities of care-giving, of losing someone you love and the helplessness attached to both.  

Her book is a “fiercely honest and unique memoir” which describes a collective experience with an “unflinching and singular gaze” that will resonate with readers of The Salt Path (Penguin) and H is for Hawk (Vintage), Picador said.  

Fitzgerald-Kelly commented: “It is a rare thing to read a book that moves you in such a delicate and yet powerful way. It is even rarer to find that feeling matched across your publishing colleagues and almost unheard of to feel and learn of the same resounding significance among your peers who have also had the privilege of reading this manuscript. Sarah Tarlow is an astute, preternaturally insightful, honest and deeply moving writer and the scaffolding of this book, her singular perspective on death and grief gained through a lifetime of learning, is fascinating and complex. The Archaeology of Loss is an exceptional book and I am thrilled to be a part of its publishing journey.”  

Tarlow added: “I am a professor of archaeology specialising in death and burial in the past, but my professional expertise did not equip me for the difficult and drawn-out experience of my partner’s illness and early death. My memoir brings together reflections from my academic life and thoughts provoked by our situation: with no prognosis and very little support. Eventually Mark waited till the children and I were out of the house, then ended his own life in an act of great courage and love. I hope it is a thoughtful book that explores issues and ideas, though it is held together with an honest personal history.”