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Scribner wins nine-publisher auction for 'devastatingly powerful' debut from O’Donnell
Simon & Schuster UK’s Scribner imprint has acquired Nesting by Roisín O’Donnell in a “fiercely contested” nine-way auction.
Scribner publishing director Sophie Missing acquired UK and Commonwealth rights from Eleanor Birne at PEW Literary. Anthea Bariamis, commissioning editor at S&S Australia, acquired ANZ rights, while North American rights were pre-empted by Betsy Gleick, vice-president, publisher and editorial director at Algonquin/Hachette US. Translation rights have sold in two territories so far.
Nesting will be published as a Scribner superlead title in February 2025, backed by a major campaign.
The synopsis reads: “It is 2018 and Dublin rents are soaring, homelessness is rising and families are being forced into emergency accommodation. For Ciara Fay, home is no longer safe. Eight weeks pregnant with a third child, she knows she can’t stay in her marriage. Her family are in England but her daughters can’t leave Ireland without their father’s permission. This is not the first time Ciara has tried to escape. With no money and no job, emergency accommodation at the run-down Hotel Eden is the only option. But as summer passes and winter closes in, Ciara struggles with raising two children in a hotel room, searching for a home and dealing with an abusive ex. Nesting is a powerful portrait of a woman’s fight for freedom for herself and her children that explores the meaning of home.”
Missing said: “I read Nesting in two gulps, my heart in my throat. Roisín is a rare talent, an extraordinary writer who balances gravity and humour to devastatingly powerful effect. Like the very best fiction, Ciara’s is a story that not only stays with you but impacts the way you look at the world. The response across S&S was passionate and unanimous. This is a book that is going to speak to people in a profound way.”
Gill Richardson, S&S group sales director, said: “In Nesting we have something rare and special, a novel that I know booksellers are going to fall in love with. The entire sales team – UK, Ireland and International – is incredibly proud and excited to help launch it on the road to success and I have every confidence that it is going to achieve not only huge critical acclaim but also the bestseller status that it truly deserves.”
O’Donnell added: “I’m over the moon that Nesting has found a home at Scribner in the UK and Algonquin in the US. Sophie, Betsy and their teams have really taken Nesting to their hearts, and I feel incredibly lucky to be surrounded by such supportive and lovely people. I’m grateful to my wonderful agent Eleanor Birne, who has been there for me every step of the way. Much of the first draft of Nesting was written on my phone, in stolen snatches of time in the wee small hours. While this all very much still feels like a dream I might wake up from at any moment, I’m excited for the publication journey ahead.”
Roisín O’Donnell’s short story ‘Sleep Watchers’ was shortlisted for Short Story of the Year at the An Post Irish Book Awards this year. Her story, ‘How to Build a Space Rocket’, won the same prize in 2018. She is the author of the collection Wild Quiet, published by New Island Books in 2016, which was longlisted for the Edge Hill Short Story Prize 2017 and shortlisted for the Kate O’Brien Award 2017 as well as the International Rubery Book Award. Nesting is her first novel. She lives near Dublin with her two children.
