Virago snares Songsiridej’s ‘compelling, raw and extremely sexy’ debut Little Rabbit 

Virago has signed debut author Alyssa Songsiridej’s “wholly new kind of coming-of-age story" about lust, punishment, artistic drive and desire.

Clare Gordon, senior editor, bought UK and Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada, to Little Rabbit from Kate Johnson at Wolf Literary for publication in August 2023.

The publisher described the novel as “a compelling and raw debut novel about sexual agency and consent, identity and art” that follows an unnamed narrator—a young writer referred to only as Little Rabbit—as she embarks on a relationship with a successful choreographer 21 years her senior.

Little Rabbit was published by Bloomsbury US in May 2022 and has been longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize.

Songsiridej, editor at Electric Literature, said: “Writing Little Rabbit felt liberating and also frightening, an experience that changed me completely. I wrote this book because I felt an urgent need for literary fiction that takes women’s sexual desire seriously, without punishment or shame. Exploring the connection between physicality and creativity has been the thrill of my life, and I’m so glad that Little Rabbit’s UK home will be with Clare Gordon at Virago."

Gordon said: “I love books about women claiming their sexuality with power and agency and Little Rabbit does it with writing that is propulsive, smart and extremely sexy. 

“Rather than pathologise or punish her narrator for obeying her baser instincts, Alyssa celebrates and empowers her. I can’t wait to bring this deeply felt, deeply intelligent, deeply horny novel to a UK audience.”

Johnson added: “There’s no better or more necessary time than the present for a book to celebrate a woman taking ownership over her own pleasure and it feels especially meaningful for Alyssa’s tender, transgressive novel to land on a list like Virago’s.”