Grove Press UK to publish Bob Dylan inspired autofictional novel

Clare Drysdale, Group Associate Publisher of Atlantic Books, has bought UK & Commonwealth (ex-Canada) rights to Sam Sussman’s debut novel, Boy from the North Country, from Cathryn Summerhayes at Curtis Brown, on behalf of Peter Steinberg and Yona Levin at UTA. Grove Press UK will publish Boy from the North Country as a flapped trade paperback and ebook on 2 October 2025.

Sam Sussman’s Boy from the North Country is an autofictional novel about the complex, indelible bonds between a son and his nonconformist mother, whose life story, courage and resilience he is coming to fully understand and appreciate, as well as a window into the life of Bob Dylan at the time he was writing Blood on the Tracks.

Evan, twenty-six, returns home to care for his mother, unaware that his journey will lead to the startling secrets of his origin. With her illness worsening, June begins to recount her youth in the electrifying 1970s New York art world, and her romantic relationship with Bob Dylan, whom Evan reveres as an artist and whom strangers have long insisted Evan resembles. As June tells her story of love, sacrifice and resilience, Evan comes to understand the startling gift this extraordinary woman has bequeathed him.

Sam Sussman says: ‘I lived formative years in Britain, and am pleased that Boy from the North Country will reach British readers through a press as highly regarded as Grove.’

Clare Drysdale says: ‘I picked up Boy from the North Country as a Bob Dylan obsessive, but I put it down a Sam Sussman superfan – I’ve never encountered such a tender, inspiring relationship between mother and son. We are incredibly proud to be bringing this singular, powerful novel to UK readers.’