Sceptre signs YouTuber Jenny Mustard’s début novel about the search for a meaningful life

Sceptre has landed the début novel from Jenny Mustard, a social media influencer with more than 50 million views on YouTube, about the “frantic, desperate search for a life that has real meaning”.

Editorial director Jo Dingley acquired UK and Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada, to Okay Days from Peter Straus at RCW. Rights have also sold in Hungary (General Press), Romania (Editura Trei) and Germany, where it will be a super lead début for Eichborn Verlag. Sceptre will publish in June 2023. 

The synopsis reads: “Sam is 28, Swedish and spending the summer in London, working for a top marketing agency. Over the course of the sticky summer months, she falls hard for Lucas, a man she first met as a teenager. Lucas is working at a boutique clothing store while trying to get a foot on the corporate ladder, and struggling to hold the pieces of his life together. Sam is a gorgeous distraction. But you can only avoid reality for so long, and both Sam and Lucas know their relationship can’t last. Nobody can be this happy forever, surely? 

“Okay Days tells the story of the rise and fall of Sam and Lucas’s affection for each other, looks unflinchingly at male body-dysmorphia and women’s reproductive rights, and the pitfalls of modern love. When is okay good enough? And what are we willing to lose in the search for a life that is much better than just okay?”

Dingley said: “I fell in love with Sam and Lucas from page one. Their frantic, desperate search for a life that has real meaning, and their drive to create a family that works for them, meeting all of their deepest needs – even the ones they are ashamed to admit – will speak loudly to millennial and Gen Z readers trying to make sense of their place in the world.

“Okay Days tackles some of life’s biggest questions, but wears them incredibly lightly. After watching her videos for years, and waiting for the day this novel would land in my inbox, I’m delighted to be able to welcome Jenny to the Sceptre list.”

Mustard commented: “It’s a true privilege to work with Jo and Peter, whose work I greatly admire. Jo’s enthusiasm and insight have made the editorial process a joy.

“The novel covers themes close to my heart: reproductive freedom, feeling displaced, finding that intense, all-consuming connection, and daring to choose a life less conventional. After countless hours quarantined in the chaotic but ultimately hopeful company of my two main characters, Sam and Lucas, I am beyond eager to see Okay Days out in the world, alongside the excellent books on Sceptre’s list.”