White Rabbit snares Millar’s ‘unsettling little fable’ Ava Anna Ada

White Rabbit has signed Ali Millar’s debut novel Ava Anna Ada, described by the publisher as “a contemporary fable against images and their enduring hold on us".

Publisher Lee Brackstone acquired world all-language rights for Ava Anna Ada from Matthew Marland at RCW Literary Agency. It will be published on 18th January 2024 in hardback, trade paperback, audio and e-book.

The synopsis reads: “The between days were days of pure white heat. Summer is swelling around the village. Heat is surging, people are whispering about a great hungry wave, and in the garden, Anna is kicking her dying dog on the grass. But someone is watching her. The girl. Ava.

“Outside, the brutal summer blisters on. Inside, over the course of one claustrophobic week, Anna and Ava become caught up in their own world. Become swallowed by each-otherness. But what does Ava really want? As faces fray and secrets splinter, the past casts the present anew, and Anna and Ava are forced to reckon with who they truly are. Because who we are, Ava Anna Ada warns us, is not always the same as what we are to each other."

Millar, whose debut memoir The Last Days was published by Ebury Press in July 2022, said: “In a way, Ava Anna Ada is a demented fable, born of my darkest fears, written almost in a fever dream. Through it, I wanted to explore an amoral universe, which is where the beauty of fiction lies. It’s incredible to have Lee Brackstone connect so viscerally with Ava Anna Ada, it’s also a complete privilege to be part of White Rabbit and to have the wider support of everyone at Orion. I can’t wait to unleash Ava Anna Ada on readers."

Brackstone said: “We don’t publish many novels at White Rabbit, but I knew as soon as I read it that this dark and unsettling little fable deserved a place on the list. Part contemporary horror, part future dystopia, Ava Anna Ada combines occult stylings with dark sexual energy to create an unforgettably original and disturbing literary debut.”