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Purvis' 'blinding' historical feminist debut won by Hutchinson Heinemann in four-way auction
Hutchinson Heinemann has triumphed in a four-way auction for Xenobe Purvis’ The Hounding, a feminist historical debut set in an 18th-century Oxfordshire village which believes that five sisters can turn into dogs.
Charlotte Cray, publishing director, acquired UK and Commonwealth rights from Holly Faulks at Greene & Heaton. North American rights were pre-empted by Caroline Zancan at Holt via Emma Dries at Triangle House. It will be published in hardback, audio and e-book in June 2025.
The blurb reads: “This is a story about wild girls. Much is said about the five Mansfield girls: sometimes they lie, they are worked too hard, they are good girls who are just grieving their late grandmother. But they are, it is agreed, strange.
"All five are watched by a handful of villagers (and their grandfather) as a story takes hold in the village of Little Nettlebed that they can turn into dogs. A bark soon leads to a bite, and when someone is brutally killed, who will be blamed?”
Purvis is a researcher and writer, has contributed to the TLS and is working on a collection of Christopher Isherwood’s letters. She was a London Library emerging writer in 2019.
She said: “I loved writing this book and I am so happy it has found a home in the UK with Charlotte and the team at Hutchinson Heinemann, who have shown such incredible passion and enthusiasm for it. I am delighted too that it will be published by Henry Holt in the US. The past few weeks have been amazing and surreal and will stay with me forever. I am very grateful to Charlotte, to my US editor Caroline Zancan, and to my wonderful agent Holly for her unceasing care and support.”
Cray: “The Hounding is an astonishingly modern novel about dangerous teenage girls, set in the hypnotically tense 18th-century village of Little Nettlebed. Purvis’ study of transformation, hysteria and desire is unexpected and fresh. I’m thrilled to have such a blinding debut on the Hutchinson Heinemann list.”
