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Rock the Boat, Oneworld’s children’s and YA imprint, has snapped up HappyHead, an “intense and compelling” LGBTQ+ YA thriller by debut author Josh Silver.
Senior commissioning editor Katie Jennings acquired UK and Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada and including audio, from Becky Bagnell at The Lindsay Literary Agency in a two-book deal. HappyHead will be published in March 2023 and supported by a major marketing and publicity campaign.
The publisher said “the nightmarish world of HappyHead holds up a mirror up to the more sinister elements of wellness culture, and the pressure put on teens to succeed and be happy, drawing on the author’s background working in mental health".
Its synopsis reads: "When Seb is offered a place on a radical retreat designed to solve the national crisis of teenage unhappiness, he is determined to change how people see him and make his parents proud. But as he finds himself drawn to the enigmatic Finn, Seb starts to question the true nature of the challenges they must undergo. The deeper into the programme the boys get, the more disturbing the assessments become, until it’s clear there may be no escape…"
Jennings said: “I can’t even begin to say how excited I am about this book. HappyHead has everything I could want in a YA novel. A world that immersed me utterly, twists and turns that kept me reading well into the early hours, and a slow-burn romance between an unlikely couple. Josh’s voice is just so fresh and immediate, bringing humour to even the most horrifying of situations. This is a book that will get under your skin and linger long after reading.”
Silver said: “I am so excited to be publishing HappyHead with Rock the Boat and am proud that my debut book will be among their list of such diverse voices. They are the perfect home for this story.”