Barr strikes YA thriller deal with PRH Children's

Emily Barr is publishing two new YA thrillers with Penguin Random House Children's UK - one set between London and New York, and the other in the remote hills of India.

Ruth Knowles, publisher at Penguin Random House Children’s UK, acquired world rights in the two new novels through Stephanie Thwaites at Curtis Brown to publish in early 2019 and 2020. Both are stand-alone titles and, according to Barr, they will be made up of "twisty plots encompassing everything from fake psychics and the collapse of civilisation".

Barr’s debut YA novel, The One Memory of Flora Banks, originally acquired for six figures in a multi-publisher auction, went on to sell into 25 languages and has already sold nearly 30,000 copies through Nielsen Bookscan. It is currently featured in the W H Smith Zoella & Friends 2017 Book Club. 

The author’s second YA novel, The Truth and Lies of Ella Black, which also clocked up a string of deals at this year's London Book Fair, is meanwhile publishing in January 2018. Prior to writing YA, Barr authored 12 adult novels with Headline, including Backpack which after publishing in 2001 won the W H Smith New Talent Award.

Knowles said Barr just keeps just getting "better and better", celebrating the deal cementing PRH Children's place as Barr's "publisher for the long-term".

"It's been a joy to watch readers around the world fall in love with Flora Banks, and with Emily's writing," she said. "Her unique style of twisty-turny, coming-of-age thrillers, set in unexpected locations is completely addictive and she just gets better and better. We are thrilled to be Emily's publisher for the long-term, and with The Truth and Lies of Ella Black, and now these two new novels, our ambition for her and her books only grows."

Barr said the past two years had been the "most incredible" of her writing life.

"I am utterly delighted to be signing with Penguin Random House for my next two YA novels. The past two years have been the most incredible of my writing life, and I’m intensely grateful to everyone involved, and particularly to Ruth, for doing such a spectacular job of publishing The One Memory of Flora Banks," said Barr.

"I can’t wait to work with the amazing team for my third and fourth YA books: these books have settings ranging from remote India to suburban England, with twisty plots encompassing everything from fake psychics and the collapse of civilisation. I know they are in the best possible hands."

PRH Children’s UK will be making Emily Barr a star guest at this year’s Frankfurt Book Fair, hosting a reception for media and Barr's foreign publishers where Barr will introduce her upcoming novels.