Viking wins Easter Collins’ ‘beautiful’ debut and second novel in four-way auction

Viking has triumphed in a four-way auction for Sarah Easter Collins’ debut novel Things Don’t Break on Their Own and a second novel, Mid Air.

Harriet Bourton, publishing director, acquired UK and Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada, to the two books from Felicity Blunt at Curtis Brown in a four-way auction. Viking will publish Things Don’t Break on Their Own in hardback, e-book and audiobook in June 2024, with a paperback scheduled for spring 2025.

North American rights were pre-empted by Amy Einhorn at Henry Holt in a “significant” two-book deal, and by Heyne Verlag in Germany, and rights have since sold in Sweden (Louise Bäckelin Förlag) and the Netherlands (Uitgeverij Ambo-Anthos). Conversations with other foreign publishers are ongoing.

Things Don’t Break on Their Own is the story of a woman whose sister disappeared without a trace when they were teenagers, and her best friend who has spent decades processing the tragedy alongside her – and feeling the effects herself.

Revolving around one explosive dinner party, the novel moves between the sisters’ childhood, the aftermath of the disappearance and the present. As each of the guests at the dinner party share their own fragmented memories of the past, the truth about what really happened that fateful morning emerges, piece by piece. Mid Air, the second novel in the deal, centres around a mother and daughter after they witness a devastating incident on a plane.

Bourton said: “I was pulled in by this beautiful, captivating story and the complex female relationships within it. Sarah has such a talent for getting underneath the skin of her characters, and she deftly layers the themes of love and trauma in a seamless building of emotional tension. Combined with a brilliant twist and propulsive ending, this is the kind of upmarket book club fiction that demands to be talked about. We are so excited to be launching Sarah’s career here at Viking.”

Easter Collins, who took the Curtis Brown Creative novel-writing course in 2021 and is currently enrolled in a two-year diploma in creative writing with Oxford University, said: “I wanted to write a book about our hidden histories and the way we might remember – or misremember – all those small yet cataclysmic events that make up who we become. I’m completely thrilled that Things Don’t Break on Their Own will be published by Viking and feel honoured to be a part of their incredible list.”