Atlantic pre-empts Eve Binder’s funny, gorgeous debut novel about fertility, family and marriage, On One Condition
Atlantic Fiction has pre-empted Eve Binder’s wise and hilarious debut On One Condition. Rachel Imrie, Editor at Atlantic and Corvus, bought UK and Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada, from Florence Rees at A.M. Heath. Atlantic will publish the novel as a lead title in summer 2027, backed with a significant marketing and publicity campaign.
On One Condition follows Fran and Len, a happily child-free-by-choice couple, whose marriage is exploded when Len’s brother, Harry, asks Len to be a sperm donor. This huge request only snowballs into something more enormous, revealing long-kept secrets, exposing old insecurities and throwing up questions about what Fran and Len really want – from each other, but also from life itself.
Eve Binder has a BA in Literature from Yale and two Master’s degrees from Oxford. A native New Yorker, she ran the corporate rat race for a decade before returning to her first and only passion, writing. She lives in London with her husband and assorted pets.
Binder commented:
‘I’m absolutely delighted to be joining forces with Rachel and the wonderful team at Atlantic. Their enthusiasm and clear vision for my novel have been so exciting, and as someone still new to this world, I’m glad to be in such clearly capable hands. Len and Fran grapple with thorny issues that affect so many people, and I’m looking forward to seeing readers doing the same once the book hits shelves.’
Imrie said:
‘On One Condition asks questions that almost everyone confronts during their lives: what does it mean to bring a child into the world? Who gets to have children? Who should? All these and more, Eve handles so tenderly, with brilliant insight and a gorgeous, sharp sense of humour. Having sparked several lively debates around the Atlantic office, I know that this is a book that gets people talking about the big stuff of life. We can’t wait to invite readers into those conversations and we’re already plotting an ambitious campaign for this very special novel.’
Atlantic Books acquires ‘a wake-up call’ to 21st century fascism
Atlantic Books has acquired World English rights to This Is Fascism: A Wake-Up Call by political scientist Rosan Smits. Associate Publisher Shoaib Rokadiya acquired rights to the Dutch bestseller from Milou Klein Lankhorst at De Correspondent. It will publish as a paperback original on 11 June 2026.
‘Fascism is back. This time no swastikas, Nazi flags, or deadly bureaucracy, but MAGA hats, extremist memes, and the erosion of human rights. For the first time in modern history, far-right parties in some European countries have won a larger share of the votes than the Conservatives and the Social Democrats. But how do fascists mobilise citizens? How has fascism become normalised in Europe again? And how do we stop it?’
Rosan Smits is a political scientist and has conducted research on radicalisation and violence in war zones for many years. She led the Conflict Research Unit at the Netherlands Institute of International Relations. Since 2017, she has been deputy editor-in-chief of De Correspondent. This Is Fascism was an immediate bestseller upon publication in the Netherlands.
Rosan Smits says: ‘The fascist playbook is back – and now it’s worldwide. I’m so glad my book will soon be available in English for those who want to understand how it works, and what we can do about it.’
Shoaib Rokadiya says: ‘As Rosan convincingly argues in this book, fascism is not just a historical phenomenon. We can no longer bury our heads in the sand and claim that it can’t happen here. This could not be a more timely publication.’
For North American rights, please contact Alice Latham alicelatham@atlantic-books.co.uk.
Stephanie Carey joins Corvus as Editorial Director
Atlantic Books is delighted to announce the arrival of Stephanie Carey as Editorial Director at Corvus.
Carey is a creative, entrepreneurial and commercially minded editor with wide-ranging experience across crime, thriller, romance, historical and horror. She has over a decade of industry knowledge and contacts, and she brings to the imprint real expertise in both print and digital publishing. Most recently at Embla Books and Joffe Books, she has published Peter Boland, Maryann Webb and Cynthia Anderson, and has also worked in non-fiction and children’s publishing. In her new role, she’s particularly looking for fresh commercial genre fiction with enduring international appeal: hooky standout psychological thrillers, sweeping and emotional historical fiction and exciting, edgy new voices in horror.
She reports to newly promoted Group Fiction Publisher, James Roxburgh, who is acquiring a limited number of books for Corvus in quality crime, spy and grounded sci-fi, and she joins Commissioning Editor, Rachel Imrie, who is looking for excellently plotted crime/thrillers and rom-coms with smart storytelling and unique hooks. The Corvus team is assisted by Mayura Uthayakumaran.
James Roxburgh says,
‘Steph was a standout candidate from the beginning: a real expert in and advocate for commercial fiction; a creative acquiring editor with a proven track record; a respected professional with experience at traditional and digital publishing lists, indie and corporate. I think she thrives on books missed by others; she’s an incredibly smart strategic thinker and her taxonomic knowledge of the digital publishing space is going to be an asset to the house — she’s going to be a terrific publisher and a serious and important guiding voice as we begin to shape the next generation of Corvus.’
Carey says,
‘I am delighted to join Corvus after a fantastic eighteen months at Embla. It’s an incredibly exciting time for Atlantic and I can’t wait to work with the fantastic team to find and publish more brilliant books to shape the future of the list.’
Drummond Moir, MD says,
‘James is one of the best publishers in our industry. The impact he’s had on Atlantic’s literary fiction has been profound, and his new role will allow even more of our publishing to benefit from his entrepreneurial ethos, commercial and strategic acumen and peerless taste. His appointment of the brilliant Stephanie Carey is the first of what I know will be many excellent decisions that take our Corvus imprint to even greater heights.’
Atlantic pre-empts debut book by winner of Working-Class Writers’ Prize Jon Doyle
James Roxburgh, Fiction Publisher at Atlantic Books, has pre-empted UK and Commonwealth (excluding Canada) rights to Jon Doyle’s debut, Communion, from Emma Paterson at Aitken Alexander. Communion will be published in hardback and export trade paperback on 2nd April 2026.
Jon Doyle is a writer based in Port Talbot, South Wales. He was part of Literature Wales’ Representing Wales scheme in 2022/23, and won the Writers & Artists Working-Class Writers’ Prize 2023. He holds a BSc and MRes in Zoology and MA in Creative Writing from Cardiff University, and a PhD in Creative Writing from Swansea University. His work has appeared in Short Fiction, Hobart, Ploughshares Online, The Rumpus, 3:AM Magazine, Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction among other places.
Communion is about Mack, a young guy who’s just left the seminary and gone home to Port Talbot, unordained and at war with his faith. He takes a job as a security guard at the local steelworks and begins an uneasy transition into the world of industry and community he once rejected. The last person Mack expects to see in the local club is Siwan Roderick – the woman who appeared out of the blue at the seminary one day to make a confession and swear him to secrecy. Mack kept his word, but his loyalty to Siwan and his clarifying sense of his role in the world will change both of their lives forever.
James Roxburgh says,
‘I straight-up love this: it’s a taut, lean literary thriller of deception and, ultimately, an act of violence; it’s a novel of stunning beauty, in which the description of the steelworks is given the same devotional care as that of the church; it’s about language, masculinity and class; about the quiet rhythms of two guarded people almost able to show each other the undefended parts of their soul but not quite, not yet. And, finally, it’s the bravest of things: it’s a novel about faith, about belief and the numinous, the kind of profound political and theological questioning that made my lapsed-protestant soul soar. I know publishers say this kind of thing all the time, but I genuinely and fully believe this is the first book of a significant literary career.’
Endorsements include:
‘Gritty and luminous… An immaculate debut’ Colin Walsh
‘A book of rare grace and presence’ Megan Hunter
‘A rare novel… Poignant and resounding’ Cynan Jones
‘Each paragraph arrives like short, beautiful breath’ Andrew McMillan
‘Electric… Wonderful, brilliant’ Kasim Ali
Atlantic Books acquires new work exploring a positive way to live with anxiety by award-winning broadcaster and practicing chartered psychologist Dr Sian Williams
Ed Faulkner, Group Non-Fiction Publisher of Atlantic Books, has acquired World all language rights in The Power of Anxiety: How to Ride the Worry Wave by award-winning broadcaster and practicing chartered psychologist Dr Sian Williams from Annabel Merullo at PFD. The Power of Anxiety will be published in trade paperback and ebook on their Allen & Unwin UK imprint in March 2026.
Anxiety rates are spiralling, affecting a third of a billion people globally. In the UK alone, more than eight million people, or one in 10, will experience anxiety serious enough to be classed as a disorder – it’s higher still in the US and across much of Western Europe, Canada and Australia, many live with anxiety symptoms that profoundly affect how they think, feel and behave. The causes might seem obvious: social media, the climate crisis and economic inequalities leading to alienation and despair. But while we wait for politicians and tech companies to do the right thing to alleviate anxiety’s societal causes, what can we do as individuals to live well, alongside it?
This is a book that looks at anxiety differently. Instead of allowing it to keep us stuck, it suggests we turn towards it, ceasing to see it as a problem to solve and instead as a truth to acknowledge, accept and work with. If we let anxiety have power over us, we are fixed and static, with no room for questioning, no opportunity for change and renewal. We need to start to see anxiety as our alert system, telling us that something isn’t right, rather than allowing it to destabilise us. To listen to what it is telling us, rather than quietening it. To celebrate the unique sensitivity that makes us feel so intensely. It’s letting intuition guide us, not fear. It’s seeing anxiety as a tool, not a trap.
Readers will discover how to live alongside their own anxiety well, with tips, tools, exercises, expert research and stories from those who’ve learnt how to ride the worry wave. A member of a multi-million album selling band describes dealing with the ‘gremlins’ that plagued his performance at the height of his fame. A top-selling author talks of managing the fear of failure that pushes her to perfectionism and high-performing anxiety. A national TV presenter explains how she manages her overwhelming social anxiety. There are those from Sian’s clinic too, who’ve lived with panic, self-criticism and doubt and who’ve all discovered how to live with anxiety in new ways.
If you have failed to free yourself from your anxiety, despite trying everything, if you are done with trying to get rid of it, then this is the book for you.
Dr Sian Williams, says,
‘As someone who works with, and lives with anxiety, I know it’s not something we can hide from, ignore, or avoid. It’s an essential part of who we are, it thrums within us. If we listen to its vibrations, feel them resonate in our body, hear what anxiety is saying to us, we can use it for good. Our sensitivity is a powerful, motivating force – we just need to learn how to harness it.’
Ed Faulkner, says,
‘For years we’ve got anxiety wrong. Trying to fix it or get rid of it, doesn’t work. In this brilliant book Dr Sian Williams shows with warmth and empathy a new way to live with and thrive alongside our worries. It is a book that will genuinely change people’s lives and we can’t wait to publish it next spring.’
Atlantic Books sell one million copies of #1 bestseller The Courage to Be Disliked; buy new work The Courage to Be Yourself
Clare Drysdale, Group Associate Publisher of Atlantic Books, and Anna McFarlane, Publisher at Allen & Unwin in Australia, have bought UK and Commonwealth rights in Fumitake Koga’s The Courage to Be Yourself from Victoria Hobbs at AM Heath, acting on behalf of Poplar Publishing Co., Ltd. represented by Manami Tamaoki at the Tuttle-Mori Agency. The Courage to Be Yourself (Japanese title: Samishii Yoruni Wa Pen Wo Mote) will be published in hardback and ebook in both the UK and Australia in September 2026.
Atlantic Books have now surpassed one million copies sold of their print and ebook editions of The Courage to Be Disliked, written by Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga, since it was first published in 2018. Sales of the Australian edition exceed 270,000 copies, while combined audiobook sales total a further 320,000 units.
The British edition has now spent over a year in the top 10 of the Sunday Times Paperback Nonfiction bestseller list, reaching the #1 position in October 2025. In May, Atlantic’s Creative Director Felice McKeown was shortlisted for Marketing Strategy of the Year at the British Book Awards for her work on the title, which also won the IPG Impact Award.
The Courage to Be Yourself is a fully-illustrated children’s book, set in an underwater world, which distils some of the themes of The Courage to Be Disliked – such as issues related to self-esteem, and letting go of things you can’t control – for a younger readership.
Clare Drysdale says:
‘The recent sales trajectory of The Courage to Be Disliked, a backlist self-help title, has been nothing short of phenomenal. It’s exciting to be able to share the messages from that book, which have proved so resonant to readers throughout the world, with a younger audience, and in a beautifully illustrated edition too.’
Very British Problems creator Rob Temple moves to Atlantic in two-book deal
Rob Temple, bestselling author and creator of Very British Problems, has moved to Atlantic Books in a two-book deal, the first of which, A Very British Christmas: Your Festive Survival Guide, publishes in hardback 23rd October 2025 on the Allen & Unwin UK imprint. World Rights were bought from Juliet Mushens of Mushens Entertainment.
Christmas, as we all know, is a minefield. What the hell do you buy your mother-in-law? Why do people still send Christmas cards? How best to deal with the inevitable arguments provoked by a simple game of Monopoly, and where to look when Grandad praises Donald Trump? How to navigate the awkwardness of unwanted presents, everything that happens at the office Christmas party, the terrors of staying in someone else’s house (especially when they have a weak flush), and the fact that, even as an adult, there’s a little bit of you that hopes there’ll be money inside every time you open a Christmas card?
Describing the book, Temple writes,
‘With over 6 million Very British Problems followers across the myriad of social media platforms, I’ve spent years delving into the most absurd and hilarious aspects of British life. And Christmas? Well, it’s the zenith of British awkwardness and calamity – the ultimate showcase of all the quirks, mishaps and traditions that define British life, all rolled into one bonkers season.’
Atlantic MD Drummond Moir said,
‘What could be more quintessentially British than celebrating the arrival of summer with a book about Christmas – or more precisely, the universally unbearable experience of having to spend it with your family. Fear not, though, Rob Temple is here, with what his millions of devoted readers and followers can think of as The Very British Problems Guide to Navigating the Festive Season with Lashings of Awkwardness and Mild Despair.’
Atlantic has confirmed an exclusive edition for independent bookshops and will involve booksellers and readers in one of the biggest ever surveys on very British attitudes to Christmas as part of their far-reaching marketing and publicity campaign.
For rights queries please contact Alice Latham: alicelatham@atlantic-books.co.uk
For publicity queries please contact Laura O’Donnell: lauraodonnell@atlantic-books.co.uk
Atlantic acquires ‘rigorous and authoritative but also juicy as hell’ Gwyneth: The Biography by bestselling author Amy Odell
Clare Drysdale, Group Associate Publisher of Atlantic Books, has acquired Gwyneth: The Biography by New York Times bestselling author Amy Odell. UK & Comm ex-Canada rights were bought from Paul O’Halloran at Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster US. Gwyneth will be published in hardback, trade paperback and ebook on July 31st 2025.
Love her or hate her, Gwyneth Paltrow has managed to stay on the A-list for three decades, her influence spanning entertainment, fashion and the wellness industry. Throughout her career, Paltrow has participated in countless carefully managed interviews, but the real Gwyneth – the basis of her motives, desires, strengths, faults and vulnerabilities – has never been fully revealed, until now.
Drawing from extensive conversations with more than 220 sources, including close current and former friends and colleagues, Amy Odell provides insight and behind-the-scenes details of Paltrow’s relationships, family, friendships, iconic films and tenure as the CEO of Goop. Gwyneth is the definitive account of how Paltrow rose to prominence, has stayed in the limelight and continues to shape culture – for better or worse.
Amy Odell is the New York Times bestselling author of Anna: The Biography, an in-depth examination of Anna Wintour, and the essay collection Tales from the Back Row. A veteran culture and fashion journalist, she writes the influential newsletter Back Row. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, Time, New York magazine and numerous other publications.
Atlantic sold over 45,000 copies of Anna including a co-pub audio edition with W.F.Howes.
Amy Odell says,
‘I am absolutely thrilled that Atlantic Books is bringing Gwyneth to the UK and beyond. The book was fascinating to report and write, and I’m thrilled to have a partner in Clare Drysdale, who is as excited about it as I am.’
Clare Drysdale, Group Associate Publisher of Atlantic Books, says:
‘Gwyneth Paltrow is a unique figure in that she absorbs our adoration and loathing in equal measure. Like Amy Odell’s delicious biography of Anna Wintour, Gwyneth is rigorous and authoritative but also juicy as hell.’
Publicity contact: Kirsty Doole, Senior Publicity Director, Atlantic Books kirstydoole@atlantic-books.co.uk
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.’
Atlantic Books to publish The Bed Trick, a riveting and forensic examination of Gayle Newland’s trials
Atlantic Books is to publish The Bed Trick: Sex and Deception on Trial by Izabella Scott in hardback and ebook on 5th February 2026. Originally acquired by Poppy Hampson who bought UK (ex. Canada) rights from Harriet Moore at Aitken Alexander (bought whilst she was at David Higham), The Bed Trick will be published by Clare Drysdale, Atlantic’s Group Associate Publisher.
Two former best friends face each other in court at a sex offence trial. Miss X claims she was tricked into queer sex, many times, by a best friend pretending to be her boyfriend. But that friend, Gayle Newland, tells a different story. They were secret lesbians, she says, lovers in the closet. The boyfriend was imaginary, and part of a role play that had been going on for years. This astonishing case reached UK courtrooms twice in 2015 and 2017, capturing national attention. The trials questioned some of the most basic assumptions about sex, consent, gender and identity. In a riveting and forensic examination of Gayle Newland’s trials, Izabella Scott interrogates the case from every conceivable angle, exposing the slippery side of consent law and the shifting rules of deceptive sex.
Izabella Scott is a writer from London. She is interested in sexuality, crime, art and self-invention. She has written about catfishing lawsuits, queer subcultures and human rights violations. She has been published by the London Review of Books, Financial Times, Granta, The New Enquiry and others. She is the author of Pleasure Gardens: Blackouts and the Logic of Crisis in Kashmir (2024), on internet shutdowns, coauthored with Skye Arundhati Thomas. She was formerly co-editor of The White Review.
Izabella Scott says,
‘Throughout this book, my aim has been to show the mechanics of a queer rape trial – to open the bonnet, to show how it works. I ask; Whose narratives are heard? Whose stories do we believe? What is the relationship between storytelling and the law? I am very pleased to be in the capable hands of Clare and the Atlantic team.’
Clare Drysdale, Group Associate Publisher of Atlantic Books, says:
‘In revisiting one of the oddest, saddest cases to come to trial in the UK in recent years, Izabella Scott has written an intriguing, provocative and sensitive book which will be catnip to readers of Helen Garner, Maggie Nelson and those who devoured Sweet Bobby.’
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