Walters signs 'bittersweet' Cath Barton novella

Indie Louise Walters Books has signed a novella from author Cath Barton in a one-book deal.  

The “bittersweet” novella explores marriage, love, and longing, set against the backdrop of Morecambe Bay, the faded glamour of the Midland Hotel, and the dance halls of Blackpool, said the publisher. The as yet untitled novella will be published in September 2020 in paperback and e-book. 

Barton won the New Welsh Writing AmeriCymru Prize for the Novella in 2017 for The Plankton Collector, which was published in September 2018 by New Welsh Review under their Rarebyte imprint.

Walters, who launched Louise Walters Books in 2017 after struggling to get her second novel taken on by a traditional publisher,  said: “Cath sent me this short, bittersweet novel and I was captivated from the opening pages. Ted and Rene, the long-married couple at the centre of the story, tug at the heart strings in a quite extraordinary way. I can’t wait to start working with Cath.”