Echo to publish Jabour’s debut novel ‘The Way Things Should Be’

Bonnier Publishing Australia’s Echo imprint will publish Guardian Australia journalist Bridie Jabour’s debut novel in May 2018.

The Way Things Should Be centres on four adult siblings in the lead-up to a wedding in a country town, exploring themes such as ‘what it means to be a millennial, the complex relationships between parents and adult children, what we expect and what life gives us, and how our relationships evolve with our siblings, friends, and ourselves’.

Commissioning editor Angela Meyer said ‘the voice of this novel is so genuine and relatable and it beautifully captures, in microcosm, the expectations and disappointments faced by people our age’, as well as ‘more broadly appealing to absolutely anyone who infrequently ventures to their “hometown” for a big event and experiences all the inevitable tensions of family relationships’.

Echo acquired world rights via Jeanne Ryckmans at The Cameron Creswell Agency.

Category: Local news Rights and acquisitions