We are delighted to announce that Emily Dunlay’s debut novel, TEDDY has been acquired by Fourth Estate and Harper in ‘major’ six-figure deals. There were multiple pre-empt attempts which led to hotly contested auctions in the US and UK.
Editorial Director Katie Bowden secured UK and Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada, from Katie Greenstreet at Paper Literary. North American rights sold to VP & Executive Editor Sara Nelson at Harper. HarperCollins US and HarperCollins UK will collaborate to deliver a major global publication.
Set in 1960s Rome, TEDDY tells the story of the wayward wife of an American diplomat as she tries with increasing desperation to contain a scandal from her past, the discovery of which she fears will be her ruin.
Katie Bowden said: ‘With echoes of Curtis Sittenfeld and Taylor Jenkins Reid, and with a protagonist even more magnetic and complex than Mad Men’s Betty Draper, TEDDY is the smart, compulsive, darkly glamorous blockbuster of a novel I’ve been waiting for. Teddy is a woman in over her head – will she make it out alive? You’ll have to read to find out. I fell in love with Teddy from the very first page and we are thrilled that Emily is joining the 4th Estate list.’
Emily Dunlay said: “I am so looking forward to working with Katie Bowden and Sara Nelson to bring this story into the world. I’ve spent so much time with Teddy that she feels like a friend, and I can’t wait for readers to meet her. I’m especially grateful to my agent, Katie Greenstreet, who understood Teddy from the beginning.”
Katie Greenstreet said: “TEDDY fell into my inbox during a very busy week, but I knew I had to drop everything to spend time walking the streets of midcentury Rome with Emily’s complicated and captivating protagonist. I knew from the start that Fourth Estate would be the perfect home for this dazzling debut, and I’m delighted to have found a publishing team who adore this character as much as I do.’
Born and raised in Dallas, Texas, Emily studied English literature and creative writing at Princeton University, after which she trained as a librarian for rare books and special collections. She currently lives and works in the United Arab Emirates as a library consultant.