A&U acquires Lukins’ ‘Loveland’

Allen & Unwin (A&U) has acquired ANZ rights to a new novel by Robert Lukins, from Grace Heifetz at Left Bank Literary, in a ‘heated auction’.

Loveland was acquired by publisher Jane Palfreyman, who said A&U was determined to secure the novel.

Said Palfreyman: ‘Two women stand in the shallows, a man dead at their feet, while around them buildings burn. How they come to be there, and the price they pay for their courage, is gradually revealed as this mesmerising novel unfolds. We are so proud to be publishing Robert and this superb, compelling novel—I can’t wait for readers to fall in love with it as we did.’

Lukins said he felt the novel had ‘found its perfect and natural home with Allen & Unwin’.

‘I told Jane Palfreyman not to hold back when it came to editing and it’s been so satisfying to have been so lovingly fed through the mincer. I’m extremely proud of this book and I can’t wait to share it.’

Lukins’ debut novel The Everlasting Sunday, published in 2018 by UQP, was nominated for several awards including the Christina Stead Prize for Fiction, the UTS Glenda Adams New Writing Award, the Voss Literary Prize and the ALS Gold Medal for Literature.

A&U will publish Loveland in March 2022.

Category: Local news Rights and acquisitions