riverrun pre-empts Franklin’s ‘life-affirming’ debut novel 

riverrun has acquired Life Hacks for a Little Alien, the “life-affirming” debut novel from Alice Franklin.

Jasmine Palmer pre-empted UK and commonwealth rights, excluding Canada, from Clare Alexander at Aitken Alexander. It has also been pre-empted by Little, Brown in America, DTV in Germany and Garzanti in Italy. Life Hacks for a Little Alien will be a lead title for riverrun in early 2025, backed by an “energetic and ambitious” publicity and marketing campaign.

The publisher says it will appeal to fans of Mark Haddon, Gail Honeyman and Emma Donoghue and describes it as a “heart-warming novel about the linguistic awakening of a girl referred to as Little Alien. Opening when she says her first words, the novel explores Little Alien’s family life, the travails of growing up different, and the Voynich Manuscript – a mediaeval codex written in an unknown language and script".

Franklin is a copywriter based in London. In 2019, she was awarded the Kowitz Scholarship to study MA Prose Fiction at the University of East Anglia. In 2020, she was longlisted for Penguin Random House’s WriteNow programme and, last year, was shortlisted for the Laura Kinsella Fellowship.

Franklin said: “I am pleased Life Hacks for a Little Alien has found a home at riverrun. As a lifelong language lover, I found Life Hacks a lot of fun to write. I can’t wait to share Little Alien’s adventures with the world, and look forward to working with Jasmine and the rest of the riverrun team.”

Palmer commented: “Alice’s talent is vast and brilliant, and I can’t wait to place this book into the hands of readers. Its powerful ambition to show language in all its rich texture and to centre a neurodivergent experience of the world is awe-inspiring. I cried, I laughed and I have spent the last week not being able to part with the feeling of warmth and emotion that it left me with.”