S&S Children’s pre-empts YA debut on the legacy of slavery from Harmer

Simon & Schuster (S&S) Children’s Books has acquired a “groundbreaking and confronting” YA novel, How Far We’ve Come, by Joyce Efia Harmer. 

Launching in hardback on 25th May and backed by a wide-reaching PR and marketing campaign, the publisher said the book heralded the arrival of a major new literary talent in the YA market. 

Fiction publisher Lucy Pearse and senior commissioning editor Amina Youssef pre-empted world English rights in How Far We’ve Come and an untitled novel from Lydia Silver at Darley Anderson Children’s Books Agency.

The timeslip novel follows Obah, an enslaved plantation worker in Barbados, who takes a leap of faith into the political turmoil of 21st-century England. But, the synopsis reads, as the cracks begin to show, Obah sees that freedom comes at an unimaginable cost.  

Harmer said: “When I first heard the voice of Obah, a slave girl in the early 19th century, I wanted to shift her out of the abyss, to place her into the modern world to be intoxicated at the freedoms and inventions she would find. But I also had to let her face the agitation and turmoil that we still experience around race relations to understand that the world we inhabit today is far from equal. I’m overjoyed that How Far We’ve Come has found its perfect home with the extraordinary talents at Simon & Schuster, whose vision has made this novel fulfil its potential.” 

Youssef said: “Obah’s voice leaps off the page from the first sentence. I felt it took me on a physical journey, from the cabins of Unity Plantation to the life-changing Black Lives Matter protests of recent years, illuminating the forgotten and troubling history of the British empire. Joyce’s extraordinary début will speak powerfully to all readers and Simon & Schuster are proud to be publishing this book.”

Pearse said: “Introducing a talent like Joyce to readers is a rare privilege. To see this powerful, emotional and wide-reaching story so clearly through the eyes of Obah, has been an incredible experience as an editor. I am blown away by the skill with which Joyce sweeps us through a richly woven and heartstopping narrative, all the while asking tough and urgent questions of us all.”

Born in London to Ghanaian parents, Harmer has a BA in English Language and Literature from King’s College, London and teaches English. In 2016, she was selected as one of six writers to take part in the Megaphone writer’s scheme to support diverse voices in Children’s Literature. In 2017, she was selected as a finalist in Penguin’s WriteNow scheme. She lives in London with her husband and two sons.