Virago nabs Allie Rowbottom's literary novel set in early days of LA pornographic industry

Virago, an imprint of Little, Brown, has nabbed the rights to Allie Rowbottom’s literary novel set in early days of the pornographic industry in LA.

Anna Kelly at Virago acquired UK & Commonwealth rights to Lovers XXX by Allie Rowbottom from Emma Finn at C&W, and Mark Doten at Soho Press acquired US rights from Erin Harris at Folio Literary.

The novel charts the complicated friendship between Jude and Winnie, two young starlets working in the 1980s Los Angeles pornographic industry.

The synopsis continues: "Both women have escaped painful childhoods; while Winnie finds favour for her magnetic beauty, Jude discovers a preternatural talent for having sex on camera. Dazzled by the drugs, sex and parties their new life offers, they are also beset by sexism, bitter competition and the precarity of life on the margins, and their friendship ends in recrimination and a dramatic act of betrayal. Thirty years and a whole lifetime later, Winnie can find no trace of what happened to Jude, and sets out to solve the mystery."

LA-based Rowbottom is the author of the debut novel Aesthetica and a memoir, Jell-O Girls, and she was a finalist for the 2023 National Magazine Award for fiction. Publication of Lovers XXX is scheduled for June 2026.

Kelly said: "Lovers XXX is a dark, addictive adventure through the high-octane glitziness and powder-dusted parties of the early days of porn, but also a deeply thoughtful engagement with feminism’s fraught relationship with female agency – and a heartbreaking story about friendship and love."

Rowbottom said: "I wrote Lovers XXX as a means of exploring what I find most compelling as a writer: women’s agency, empowerment and sexual expression forged within the intricate, ancient systems built for the purpose of oppressing us. I’m honoured to share my work with British readers for the first time and grateful to Anna for making that happen."