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Chatto & Windus has signed Absolutely & Forever, a “bold, witty and heart-wrenching short novel” by multiple award-winning author Rose Tremain.
Clara Farmer, publishing director at Chatto & Windus, acquired volume, serial, e-book and audio rights in UK and Commonwealth territories, excluding Canada, from Caroline Michel at PFD. Chatto & Windus will publish Always & Forever in hardback in September 2023.
In the novel, which “tells a piercing story of thwarted love, true friendship and finding the courage to make your own life”, Tremain draws on memories of her own girlhood and youth in the 1950s and 1960s.
It tells the story of Marianne Clifford, 15, the only child of a peppery army colonel and his vain wife, Lal, who falls helplessly and absolutely for Simon Hurst, 18, whose cleverness and physical beauty suggest that he will go forward without difficulty into a successful and monied future, helped by doting parents. But fate intervenes. Simon’s plans are blown off course, and Marianne is forced to bury her dreams of a future together.
The publisher’s synopsis goes on: “Narrating her own story, characterising herself as ignorant and unworthy, Marianne’s telling use of irony and smart thinking gradually suggests to us that she has underestimated her own worth.
“We begin to believe that in the end – supported by her courageous Scottish friend, Petronella – she will find the life she never stopped craving. But what we can’t envisage is that beneath his blithe exterior, Simon Hurst is nursing a secret that will alter everything.”
Tremain, who has previously won the Orange Prize, Dylan Thomas Award and Whitbread Novel of the Year, among many others, and who was made a dame in 2020, said: “I’m so pleased that Chatto has responded so positively to my change of direction: leaving deep historical subjects behind to take inspiration from my own early life in Absolutely & Forever.
“Of course my protagonist, Marianne Clifford, is not me, but she and I share neglectful mothers, early romantic heartbreak and an obstinate love for the beechwoods of Berkshire and for old-fashioned French cars. That was a good enough start to get this story up and motoring.”
Farmer said: “There are not enough superlatives for the writing of Rose Tremain and it’s a treat that she has gifted us another wonderful story. Absolutely & Forever is set in the near-past, but Marianne’s candid, open voice will speak directly to contemporary readers. This is a short, sharp, sexy novel with mighty sales potential.”