Scribner UK nabs Rouge, a new novel by Awad

Scribner UK has nabbed Rouge, the new novel by Mona Awad, who Margaret Atwood selected as her "literary heir" in the New York Times.

In a two-book deal, editorial director Chris White acquired UK and Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada, in Rouge and another novel deal from Anna Webber of United Agents, on behalf of Bill Clegg at The Clegg Agency. Marysue Rucci Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, will publish in the US and Hamish Hamilton in Canada on 12th September. The film rights have already been optioned by Sinestra and Freemantle.

Rouge, which Scribner will publish as a lead hardback on 14th September 2023, is described as "a horror-tinted, gothic fairy tale" about a dress shop clerk whose mother’s unexpected death sends her in pursuit of youth and beauty. The publisher’s synopsis said: "With black humour and seductive horror, Rouge explores the cult-like nature of the beauty industry—as well as the danger of internalising its pitiless gaze.

"Brimming with California sunshine and blood-red rose petals, Rouge holds up a warped mirror to our relationship with mortality, our collective fixation with the surface, and the wondrous, deep longing that might lie beneath.

Awad’s novels include the TikTok popular Bunny (Head of Zeus), 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl (Head of Zeus) and All’s Well (Scribner UK). Commenting on the publication, she said: "I’m so thrilled to have Rouge published by the amazing Chris White and the brilliant team at Scribner UK.

"Rouge is a twisted, culty sister to Bunny, and was strongly influenced by the ’skinfluencer’ culture in the UK, so I’m especially excited for the novel to find its way to UK readers. A dark journey through the looking glass, Rouge is my thorny love letter to fairy tales, mother-daughter relationships, the shadow side of the beauty industry and the eternal mystery of the mirror."
White added: "Mona is one the most inventive and exciting writers working today. She is uniquely, fearlessly, thrillingly brilliant and this latest novel is just jaw-droppingly good. It’s a masterpiece, I think; one that holds up a dark mirror to our world and to ourselves and does it in the most stimulating and entertaining way possible."