Scribe clinches 'sharply observed' romance from Joseph

Scribe has picked up Keeping in Touch by Desmond Elliott Prize winner Anjali Joseph.

Editorial director Molly Slight bought world English rights, excluding India, from Judith Murray at Greene & Heaton. It will publish in June 2022.

"Keeping in Touch is a witty, sharply observed portrait of the long-distance love affair between two thirtysomethings: Ved, a successful venture capitalist from London, and Keteki, a nomadic art curator from Assam," the synopsis explains. "When they meet in Heathrow, these two characters begin an intense and undefined relationship. Each seeking the upper hand, they move between Britain and India, in an intricate dance in which neither wants to relinquish power. But as they develop true feelings for one another, the stakes become higher."

Slight said: "What I love about Anjali’s writing is that she is such an extraordinary observer of people, and that is one of the great pleasures of this novel: the way that she perfectly dissects the dynamics of this love affair with such intimacy that you feel, at times, as if you are in the room with these two characters. I am thrilled to be publishing it next summer."

Joseph won the £10,000 Desmond Elliott Prize in 2011 for debut novel Saraswati Park (4th Estate).