Verso lands Happy Hour

Verso Books is to publish writer and film-maker Marlowe Granados' debut novel Happy Hour next summer on its fiction list. 

Commissioning editor Cian McCourt acquired UK and Commonwealth rights from Harriet Moore at David Higham Associates, and in a separate deal acquired US rights from Martha Sharpe, at her new press Flying Books, which published the novel in Canada.

The synopsis explains: "In the sweltering summer of 2013, Isa and her best friend, Gala, sell clothes in a market stall, pinching pennies to pay for their Bed-Study sublet and bodega lunches. By night, they weave from Brooklyn to the Upper East Side among a rotating cast of artists, academics and bad-mannered grifters. Desires aren’t for denying, not this season. But as money gets sparse and circumstances grow sketchier, the pair struggle to convert social capital into something more tangible." 

McCourt said: "All of us at Verso, even the most jaded of our New Yorkers, were immediately taken by this delightful debut, which has the insight and barbed charm of Nancy Mitford (albeit with far more rent-is-late relatability)."

Moore added: "I couldn’t be happier that Marlowe Granados’ Happy Hour will be published by Verso—a vivifying combination of author and publisher which perfectly reflects the brio and stylishness of the novel."

The novel will be published in August 2021.