Trapeze snaps up poet Clake’s haunting debut novel in four-way auction

Trapeze has won a four-way auction for award-winning poet Jenna Clake’s debut novel, Disturbance, described as a powerful exploration of trauma and the effects of abusive relationships.

Editor Zoe Yang acquired UK and Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada, from Matthew Turner at RCW. US rights were acquired by Drew Weitman at W W Norton. Trapeze and W W Norton will both publish in summer 2023. 

The novel follows a young woman who moves alone to a new flat, having finally escaped an abusive relationship. Over the course of a summer she begins to feel the boundaries of her reality shift in and out of focus as her ex-boyfriend makes his presence felt in ways both psychological and paranormal. During this time she begins an unlikely friendship with her next-door neighbour, Chelsea, and her best friend and together they start to explore the occult. As the narrator is drawn further into this circle, she sees parallels between Chelsea’s boyfriend and her own abusive partner. Deciding she must take action to extract Chelsea from the relationship before it is too late, she places a hex on him, hoping to also perhaps rid herself of the disturbances that haunt her.

Yang said: “Disturbance is a powerful novel about trauma and the long-term and far-reaching effects of abusive relationships that I read in one feverish sitting. It is an unforgettable reading experience: intense, mind-bending, claustrophobic and thrilling. Jenna Clake is an immense talent and I’m delighted to be welcoming her to the list.” 

Clake, whose debut collection of poetry, Fortune Cookie (Eyewear Publishing), won the Melita Hume Prize in 2016, added: “I’m delighted that such wonderful editors responded to my novel. Disturbance began as a tentative project in the winter lockdown and soon grew into a consuming story about how to reckon with trauma. I’m thrilled that my novel has found a home with Trapeze and W W Norton.”