Virago snares Sullivan’s ‘devastating yet joyful’ debut novel Big Girl

Virago has signed Mecca Jamilah Sullivan’s debut novel Big Girl, “an unforgettable portrait of a queer Black girl as she learns to take up space in the world, joyfully and on her own terms”.

Donna Coonan, editorial director, acquired UK and Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada, from Vanessa Kerr at Aevitas Creative Management for publication in July 2023. 

The publisher’s synopsis reads: “Growing up in rapidly gentrifying Harlem, Malaya struggles to fit into a world that makes no room for her. She’s funny, creative and smart, but all people see—even those who love her—is her size. At eight, her mother is taking her to Weight Watchers; by 12, her parents fear she’ll be taken from them; and at 16 a gastric bypass is being discussed.

“The pressures of being a Black student in an exclusive, predominantly white school are relentless, as are the dieting expectations of her grandmother and mother, whose lifelong struggles to contain their own bodies is an inheritance Malaya refuses. 

“She finds solace in painting, hip-hop and in the support of her sensitive father, Percy, but tensions mount as quickly as her weight—the cause, as she’s painfully aware, of many of her family’s rows. 

“On good days, Malaya braids colours in her hair, turns up Biggie Smalls on her Walkman and struts through Harlem with a smile on her face, his words galvanising her, silencing strangers’ comments; and on bad days, she doesn’t leave her bed other than for furtive trips to the bodega for the forbidden food that will comfort her—for a while.”

Coonan describes Big Girl as a “big-hearted, subtly subversive coming-of-age novel that you will devour in a gulp, featuring a heroine you won’t easily forget”.

“With humour, empathy and a skilful lightness of touch, Mecca Jamilah Sullivan explores significant themes such as identity, desire and inherited stigma. This assured debut is nuanced, tender, devastating yet joyful, and every character is written with such humanity,” she said. 

Sullivan commented: “In many ways, Big Girl is about the quiet power of movement and the magic that can happen when we take up all the space we need in the world. As Malaya learns, this insistence on making room for ourselves connects to our own possibility and to each other. I’m delighted that Malaya and her story will reach new frontiers and readers as part of Virago’s fantastic list.”