Vintage triumphs in eight-way auction for musician Moss’ memoir

Vintage has won an eight-way auction for One Person Playing Two Roles: A Cantopop Memoir by Emma-Lee Moss, a British-Chinese writer, musician and broadcaster.

Bea Hemming, deputy publishing director of Jonathan Cape, acquired British Commonwealth rights from Niki Chang at David Higham Associates for publication in spring 2025.

The “luminous” debut memoir is described as Moss’ quest to understand her mixed-heritage identity, her musical inheritance, and the city of Hong Kong where she lived as a child. “It’s about finding herself back in a Hong Kong bar on a night in 2017, listening to a Cantopop song and remembering the musical heroes of her childhood. It’s about how, a few nights later, she entered into a relationship that would lead her to live in the city again as an adult – unexpectedly falling in love not only with a person, but with the city of her birth,” the publisher continues.

“Against the backdrop of the protests of 2019, One Person Playing Two Roles blends personal memoir with a portrait of Hong Kong, the hitherto hidden story of a city, its people, its culture and history.” Moss, who performs under the name Emmy the Great, said: “I’m so thrilled to have found a home for One Person Playing Two Roles, and I am deeply thankful to Bea and the team at Jonathan Cape for their enthusiasm and care for the subject matter. I am also in awe of Niki Chang, my agent, who guided me through the process so expertly. I’ve been thinking about this book since I was a teenager, listening to Cantopop in private after leaving Hong Kong for Sussex.

“It was only recently, however, after returning to the city and becoming a parent there, that I realised I could share my passion for Hong Kong’s cultural identity in a more personal way. There has never been a more urgent time to tell the city’s stories, and I hope my voice will be one of many.”

Hemming commented: “‘We’re over the moon to be publishing this tender and luminous memoir at Cape. Emma-Lee is best known to many of us as a singer-songwriter, but One Person Playing Two Roles shows her to be an astonishingly talented writer and storyteller too. This is a book that will speak to the heart as much as to the head: it’s about falling in love – with a person, with a place, and with the music of her youth – and about discovering the fractured, magical and misunderstood history of a city. I can’t wait to share this book with readers and introduce them to a thrilling new literary voice.”