Allen & Unwin acquires Zoe Foster Blake’s “Group Chat”

Allen & Unwin (A&U) has acquired ANZ rights to Group Chat by Zoë Foster Blake, in a deal brokered by Tara Wynne at Curtis Brown.

Described by the publisher as “part perimenopausal-Bridesmaids, part White Lotus, and part Mamma Mia”, the book follows 5 female friends navigating their 40s through “the obstacles of insomnia, making endless lunchboxes and school runs, ailing parents, sullen teenagers and husbands who insist on chewing/breathing too loudly”.

“When one of the husbands strays, the group chat doesn’t offer platitudes, they offer a (long feted and wildly overdue) girls’ trip” to Mykonos.

Foster Blake is the founder of Go-To skincare, and the author of 18 books, including novels, nonfiction and picture books. Things Will Calm Down Soon (2024), the author’s first adult novel in 10 years, sold over 40K copies across all editions and has been optioned for a TV series.

Said Foster Blake of Group Chat: “A decades-long friendship can rival (and even outlast) a romantic relationship, and in my 40s, never have I felt closer and been more in love with my friends. These women are my fellow soldiers in midlife! My partners in perimenopause! My cup-fillers and soul healers. As we feel and see our youth slipping away, we find ourselves having to rearrange our perception of who we are, who we thought we’d be, and who we want to be. Group Chat explores this awakening…and is an outright call to action for all the women who never quite manage to get their girls’ trip out of the group chat.”

Said publisher Cate Paterson: “Zoë has that uncanny ability to be highly relatable yet live an extraordinary life. At heart she is a writer, and Group Chat is imbued with her inherent style, intelligence and fun. She can amuse and delight and then wallop you with a truth you didn’t know you needed.”

Allen & Unwin plans to publish Group Chat in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand in October.