Serpent's Tail on the Verge of 'rollicking roadtrip' with Attia's debut novel

Serpent’s Tail has snapped up Verge, a "splendidly dark, atmospheric" novel inspired by Brexit and societal divisions, from debut novelist Nadia Attia.

Commissioning editor Leonora Craig Cohen and assistant editor Calah Singleton jointly acquired UK and Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada, plus translation and audio rights from John Baker at Bell Lomax Moreton. Serpent’s Tail will publish as a lead debut in May 2023.

"Verge is a devastatingly funny and richly imagined road-trip novel set in a more perilous and xenophobic near-future Britain where the island has fractured into individual counties and ancient magical practices are once more ascendant," the synopsis explains. "The day that Rowena Murray was born, two-hundred-and-fifty starlings fell out of the sky and ever since she has been marked by ill fortune. First came the visions; then her boyfriend dropped dead. Now death has taken her father, too. 

"Salvation, Rowena’s mother says, lies to the North: in Culcrith, where her grandmother can save her from the curse. Her mother’s farmhand, a young Egyptian man named Halim, is to drive Rowena past innumerable checkpoints, through a mysterious and treacherous landscape inhabited by people who have married old traditions with intensified prejudices. The trip isn’t easy: Rowena is spiky, obsessive, and sees death everywhere, while Halim is uptight and quiet, battling demons of his own. What begins as a battle of wills between the two develops into an alliance, and perhaps something more, if they can let their guard down and let the wild in."

Craig Cohen and Singleton said: "Verge is the wildest of rides. Set in a splendidly dark, atmospheric and increasingly probable near-future Britain, it has everything: folklore and superstition, a rollicking road-trip narrative, a duo with electric tension, bitingly witty dialogue and a heartfelt examination of loss, connection and letting go. We’re thrilled to be working with the brilliant Nadia Attia on this exciting and prescient novel."

Attia added: "I’m beyond excited to have found a home at Serpent’s Tail as I’ve long admired their taste for smart and edgy stories. Verge was partly inspired by Brexit and societal divisions, and partly inspired by my love of nature and British folklore, and with this story I really wanted to champion those free spirits who, against the odds, forge their own path through whatever wilderness they face."