Salt secures Brody's ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ masterpiece The Night-Soil Men  

Salt has secured Bill Broady’s "once-in-a-lifetime" historical political novel, The Night-Soil Men.

Chris Hamilton-Emery acquired British and Commonwealth rights (including translations) from Annette Green Authors’ Agency, and Salt will publish the book as a paperback on 15th June 2024.

The novel has been nearly a decade in the writing and explores the Independent Labour Party, the working-class political movement founded in Bradford in 1893.

The synopsis says: "Spanning four decades, the novel covers the socialist foment and activism of fin-de-siècle Britain, the impact of the First World War and the changing landscape of the interwar years, as social change points forward to a new politics and the reinvention of Britain, despite fierce resistance from the establishment and its allies."

Broady said: "I am delighted that the excellent Salt – surely the flagship of independent presses – are showing such faith in what is necessarily a long and densely-plotted novel.

"The early period of socialism might not strike you as a ’sexy’ subject, but it teems with character and incident, triumph and betrayal, humour and tragedy. It also provides a warning – and a promise – to our own troublous times. I hope that I might have done justice to this fascinating story."

Hamilton-Emery added: "This is an extraordinary work, utterly unputdownable and brilliant. A novel of this kind comes along perhaps once-in-a-lifetime for a publisher – I can say without any doubt that it is a masterpiece."