Zaffre to publish broadcaster Rani’s debut novel

Zaffre has acquired broadcaster and former “Strictly Come Dancing” contestant Anita Rani’s debut novel, Baby Does a Runner.

Publishing director Melissa Cox is editing and publishing the novel originally acquired by Beth Eynon, now editorial director of Seven Dials, for world English-language and translation rights from Cathryn Summerhayes at Curtis Brown. Baby Does a Runner will be published in hardback, audio and e-book on 6th July 2023.

Its synopsis reads: “Baby Saul has had it with just about everything. She’s fed up with her job and her colleagues, her love life is permanently casual, and underpinning everything is the recent grief of losing her much-loved dad.

“When she finds some love letters between her grandfather and someone who is very clearly not her grandmother, Baby realises that she needs to know more. She’s going to go to India, find out why her family left, do some detective work on this mysterious other woman and maybe find out a bit more about herself along the way. What she doesn’t bargain for is Sid, her guide being annoyingly handsome with a knack for asking Baby the sort of questions that force her to look at what she really wants out of life.”

Rani, whose memoir The Right Sort of Girl was published in 2021 by Blink Publishing, said: “Baby is a woman so unsettled she decides to step into the unknown, driven by her desire to know more about a family secret and in the process, ends up discovering more about who she is. There are so many of us who live between worlds, trying to figure life out with this huge weight of expectation on our shoulders. Baby’s story is hopefully one that many people will enjoy – and some of you will even relate to. I loved bringing Baby to life and creating the sort of character I’ve always looked for in books but never found. I can’t wait for readers to get to know and love her as I do.”

Cox said: “It has been tremendous fun working with Anita on this book which is full of the trademarks that make her such a beloved broadcaster – it is funny, moving and gives a voice to those who always feel slightly out of place, no matter how hard they try.”