Viking swoops in to pre-empt two novels from Casale

Viking has swooped in to pre-empt two novels by author and script consultant Alexia Casale. 

Harriet Bourton, publisher, pre-empted world rights in a major deal for The Best Way to Bury Your Husband and one other untitled novel from Kristina Pérez at Zeno Agency. The Best Way to Bury Your Husband will be published as a lead title in February 2024. 

It is described by the publisher as a story about four women who reach breaking point in their abusive relationships during lockdown and decide to face the consequences together—with help from the local gardening centre.  

The synopsis says: “When Sally kills her husband with a cast-iron skillet, she’s more fearful of losing her kids than disposing of a fresh corpse. That just wouldn’t be fair—not after twenty years married to a truly terrible man. But Sally isn’t the only woman in town reaching the brink. Soon, Sally has formed an extremely unusual self-help group, and between them there are four bodies to hide. Can they all figure out the perfect way to bury their husbands . . . and get away with it?” 

The novel has also seen pre-empts from dtv in Germany and Saida de Emergencia in Portugal and selling at auction to Pamela Dorman at Pamela Dorman Books/Viking in the US. French rights (Julliard) and Serbian rights (Vulkan) have also been sold, while conversations with other foreign publishers are ongoing. 

Bourton said: “Readers will relish this wickedly arch novel: a story about how female solidarity gives these oh-so-relatable women a way out of the darkest moment in their lives. Alexia Casale brilliantly combines the revenge streak of Bella Mackie’s How to Kill Your Family (Borough Press) with the dark humour of ’Death Becomes Her’ and the fierce friendship of Netflix’s ’Dead to Me’.  

“It is also devastatingly contemporary, given the sharp increase in reports of domestic abuse during lockdown, and Alexia writes with an insightful empathy. The Best Way To Bury Your Husband is a gripping yet heartfelt page-turner that’s dripping with mirth (and just a little blood).” 

Casale added: “Every few hours I suddenly remember that Harriet is my editor and Viking is my publisher and it’s not just an amazing daydream. Harriet’s pitch captured everything I want this novel to be; from the start, she and the whole wonderful Viking team have embraced me and the women in the book with all the solidarity that lies at the heart of the story. I can’t imagine better partners in bringing the book to readers and hopefully becoming one more voice in the fight to change the endemic nature of male violence against women and girls.  

“Maybe if I can make people laugh, they’ll also listen—ideally to women with more practical ideas about how to change the world than handing out antique skillets and shovels.” 

Casale’s debut YA novel, The Bone Dragon (Faber & Faber), was shortlisted for the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize and named a Book of the Year for the Financial Times and the Independent.