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The Lowe-down: Orion’s six figures for Grace Alexander’s ‘whip-smart’ début
Orion Fiction has pre-empted Grace Alexander’s “page-turning and provocative” debut novel about a woman thrust into the limelight following a sex scandal.
Publishing director Charlotte Mursell paid six figures for The Lowe Job, acquiring UK & Commonwealth rights (excluding Canada) from Susan Armstrong at C&W. North American rights went to Liz Stein at William Morrow, also in a pre-empt, in a deal struck by Lisa Grubka at United Talent Agency on behalf of Armstrong. Orion will release the book in May 2026 as a lead title for the imprint.
The novel tells the story of a young woman, Lili Lowe, who is caught in a “compromising” position with a notable politician in the back of a car. Embroiled in a subsequent media storm, she turns, as most daughters would, to her mother. Yet Lydia Lowe is a former talent agent, and it’s not long before the whole world knows the name Lili Lowe.
As “the spotlight brightens on Lili, and her three sisters Von, Dani and Abby, they are all confronted by a new reality—and it’s soon clear that fame, and fortune, comes with a price…”
Orion said The Lowe Job will “appeal to fans of The List by Yomi Adegoke and Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors. Readers can expect love triangles, complex family dynamics and jaw-dropping political scandals, all explored with a deliciously dark humour and lightness of touch”.
The publisher added: “This is a book that you have to talk about after you’ve finished the final pages and which will ignite feverish discussion at book clubs everywhere.”
Mursell said: “The Lowe Job opens with one of the best first lines I’ve ever read—and one I’m still shocked made it through my spam filter. Whip-smart, explosive and utterly compulsive reading, I ripped through Grace’s début novel overnight and knew instantly that I had to publish it.”
Alexander is a London-based writer who spent the last decade working in private equity. She wrote The Lowe Job while on maternity leave, “during her daughter’s short and sporadic naps”.
