Simon & Schuster pre-empts Wood's debut adult rom-com in 'significant' deal

Simon & Schuster UK has pre-empted Laura Wood’s debut adult rom-com, Under Your Spell, in a "significant" deal.

Molly Crawford, editorial director, fiction, acquired UK and Commonwealth rights from Louise Lamont at Luigi Bonomi Associates in a two-book deal ahead of a seven-way auction. Rights have also been sold by ILA to Verus in Brazil in a pre-empt, Giunti (Italy), Editora Trei (Romania), Vulkan (Serbia), Eksmo (Russia) and to Heyne Verlag after a six-way auction in Germany. 

The novel, which S&S will publish in paperback as a lead romance debut in June 2024, follows Clemmie, who "drunkenly casts a spell with her sisters after a bad break-up and promptly lands a dream summer job as housekeeper for world-famous rockstar Theo Elliott". 

Crawford said: "From the moment I began reading I felt like I was the one under a spell. And I wasn’t alone: there was a collective cheer in the office when we heard back from Louise. Laura has a skill that is incredibly hard to find and impossible to replicate.

"Under Your Spell is the perfect balance between romance and comedy that is only achievable when a writer truly loves the genre. Perfect for fans of Emily Henry: this has irresistible characters with spine-tingling chemistry and a sparkling, English wit."

Wood has a PhD in Victorian literature and is the author of teenage novels including A Sky Painted Gold (Scholastic/ Random House Books for Young Readers), which was nominated for the YA Book Prize. She has two Books Are My Bag awards and the RNA Romantic Novel of the Year 2019 under her belt. 

On her adult debut, she said: "I am utterly delighted that Clemmie’s story has found a home at Simon & Schuster, with an incredible editor in Molly and a whole team whose enthusiasm for the book had me in tears. What a dream for an author. Writing this book has been a source of great joy for me.

"None of this would have happened without my agent, Louise, who told me over and over again that I had this book in me. She was right."

Lamont said: "Laura has written a truly perfect romantic comedy, a novel of great heart that’s as funny as it is sexy. Ever since she slid the first magic chapter my way, I’ve wanted nothing more than to run off to a beautifully restored beach house and spend the summer with a devastatingly handsome musician—but the next best thing has been sending this book to people and watching them swoon.

"Molly’s passion and ambition for Laura were utterly spellbinding."