Sceptre scoops ‘moving portrait' of adolescence from Buchanan 

Sceptre has scooped an “intimate, tense and exquisitely observed” novel from Rowan Hisayo Buchanan, The Sleepwatcher.  

Charlotte Humphery, senior commissioning editor, acquired UK and Commonwealth rights on behalf of Francine Toon from Lucy Luck at C&W. The novel will be published in spring 2023. 

Buchanan’s author credits include Harmless Like You (Hodder & Stoughton) and Starling Days (Hodder & Stoughton). She has won the Authors’ Club First Novel Award and a Betty Trask Award and has been shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award.  

Sceptre described the novel as a “moving portrait of adolescence and what it means to see our parents as people”. The synopsis reads: “When she is 16, Kit suffers a summer of sleeplessness that isn’t quite what it seems: her body lies in bed while she wanders through her family home, the streets of her rundown seaside town and into the houses of friends and strangers. Unseen and unheard, she witnesses a new side to the parents she thought she knew. Her home thrums with quiet violence that she can no longer ignore. With her new knowledge it is impossible not to react and a single word soon changes everything.” 

Humphery said: “Rowan is a vital voice in modern fiction and we couldn’t be more excited to be publishing her new novel. The Sleepwatcher touches on deep truths about family and growing up with delicacy and care. It is atmospheric, elegantly surreal and full of feeling. Fans of Harmless Like You and Starling Days will undoubtedly fall for The Sleepwatcher as we have.”  

Buchanan added: “I’m delighted to be working with Charlotte, Francine and Sceptre. In this book, I wanted to walk through the dark corridors of adolescence and to ask what happens when those you love are more complicated than they first appear.”