Verso seizes Regel's debut on 'friendship, failure, art and envy'

Verso has seized The Last Sane Woman, Hannah Regel’s debut novel about "friendship, failure, art and envy".

Cian McCourt acquired world English language rights from Harriet Moore and David Evans at David Higham Associates. 

The synopsis of the book, which will be published in July 2024, says: "Nicola is a few years out of a fine arts degree, listless and unenthusiastically employed in London. She begins to spend her hours at a university archive dedicated to women’s art, because she ’wants to read about women who can’t make things’.

"There she discovers one side of a correspondence beginning in 1976 and spanning a dozen years, written from one woman...As she reads on, an acute sense of affinement turns to obsession, and she abandons one job after another to make time for the archive. The litany of coincidences in the letters starts to chime uncomfortably, and Nicola’s feeling of ownership begets a growing dread: what if she doesn’t like what the letters lead to?"

McCourt commented: "I was completely taken in by Hannah’s novel, particularly her way with a sentence, and the surprising (and totally lovely) lines her observations run in. This novel is so sharp on friendship, failure, art and envy. Her characters are as compelling as the mystery that tethers these women together. It’s a beguiling, beautiful debut."

Regel added: "My novel could not have found a better home. I respect Verso Books so much and am thrilled to have Cian McCourt as my editor there, who’s had, from the outset, such an incredible sense for its character and characters. I also am unspeakably lucky to have Harriet Moore and David Evans at David Higham as my agents, whose encouragement and support have made this whole process a joy."