Sarah Rigby of Elliot & Thompson has snapped up a memoir by writer Nancy Campbell, whose recent book Fifty Words for Snow (Elliot & Thompson) was Waterstones’ November Non-Fiction Book of the Month.

In her memoir, Campbell explains how in the wake of a traumatic lockdown, she bought an old caravan and drove it into a strip of neglected woodland between the canal and railway outside Oxford. It is the first home she has ever owned and she wonders if it can provide the space she needs to rebuild her life. The publisher described the book as "an intimate journal across the span of a defining summer" calling Thunderstone "a celebration of transformation and an invitation to approach life with imagination and to embrace change bravely".

MGC is delighted that Emily’s debut novel, Fault Lines, has been shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Prize.

Mizuki is a Japanese housewife. She has a hardworking husband, two adorable children and a beautiful Tokyo apartment.

Then, one rainy night, she meets Kiyoshi, a successful restaurateur. In him, she rediscovers freedom, friendship, a voice, and the neon, electric pulse of the city she has always loved. But the further she falls into their relationship, the clearer it becomes that she is living two lives – and in the end, we can choose only one.

Published by Phoenix Books, alluring, compelling, startlingly honest and darkly funny, Fault Lines is a bittersweet love story and a daring exploration of modern relationships from a writer to watch.

Translation rights with Phoenix Books.

Joe Zigmond at John Murray has secured The Queen’s Favourites: The Tangled Lives of Marie Antoinette’s Ladies-in-Waiting by Emily Brand.

An intimate view of one of the most astonishing, and bloodthirsty episodes in Western history, told from the heart of Europe’s most exquisite royal court, its notorious queen, and her circle of ladies-in-waiting. Charting the rise and fall of Marie Antoinette’s treasured favourites – Lamballe, Campan and Polignac – this group biography reveals the roles played by women in fuelling and ultimately falling victim to the call for revolution, and how violently it scattered them to very different fates.

US rights have sold to Amy Cherry at Norton by Rebecca Wearmouth at PFD. All translation rights represented by PFD.

Each year, The Radio Academy recognises individuals who exemplify excellence through an extraordinary career and lifetime of service to the industry, by making them a Fellow of The Radio Academy. This year, the Trustees of the Radio Academy honoured Miranda Sawyer with a Fellowship, for her unending support of audio and radio as a writer/critic. She'll be only the second radio critic to become a Fellow, the first being Gillian Reynolds.

Miranda was also shortlisted for an Audio Production Award for Best Host for her series, Sound and Vision on BBC Radio 6 - the winners will be announced in a ceremony on 24 November.

Congratulations, Miranda!

Simon Thorogood at Canongate has acquired Bi: The Hidden Culture, History and Science of Bisexuality, a "demystifying" and "humanising" insight into bisexuality by Dr Julia Shaw. Bi will explore how people have defined and measured bisexuality over the past 150 years, and sets out the important role it has played in the fight for queer rights.

Julia Shaw is a psychological scientist at UCL and part of Queer Politics at Princeton University, which works for LGBT+ equality, democracy and civil rights. She is completing a MA in queer history, and is the founder of the international Bisexual Research Group. She is the author of The Memory Illusion (Random House), which was published in 20 languages, and Making Evil (Canongate), which has been translated into 10 languages.

We are thrilled that Nancy Campbell’s book, Fifty Words for Snow, published by Elliot and Thompson, has been chosen as Waterstones’ non-fiction Book of the Month.

From mountain tops and frozen seas to city parks and desert hills, writer and Arctic traveller Nancy Campbell digs deep into the meanings of fifty words for snow. Under her gaze, each of these linguistic snow crystals offers a whole world of myth and story.

'Absolutely exquisite. This little book is a work of art. It is impossible to imagine the reader who will not love it.' - Horatio Clare, author of The Light in the Dark: A Winter Journal

Congratulations to Suzanne O’Sullivan who has been shortlisted for the £25,000 Royal Society Insight Investment Science Book Prize.

Inspired by a poignant encounter with the sleeping refugee children of Sweden, Wellcome Prize-winning neurologist Suzanne O’Sullivan travels the world to visit other communities who have also been subject to outbreaks of so-called ‘mystery’ illnesses.

The winner will be revealed at a ceremony in London on 29th November.

Published by Macmillan in the UK, and Pantheon in the US, all foreign rights are represented by PFD.

Congratulations to MG Leonard whose book Twitch - published by Walker Books - wins Sainsbury’s Children’s Fiction Book of the Year.

On the first day of the summer holidays, Twitch arrives at his secret hide to find police everywhere: a convicted robber has broken out of prison and is hiding in Aves Wood. Can Twitch use his talents for birdwatching to hunt for the dangerous prisoner and find the missing loot?

“Leonard knows her audience and the jeopardy comes in flocks ... Find your nest, curl up and enjoy.” The Times, Children's Book of the Week

Rhiannon Ward’s second book, The Shadowing, is published today with Trapeze.

When well-to-do Hester learns of her sister Mercy's death at a Nottinghamshire workhouse, she travels to Southwell to find out how her sister ended up at such a place.

As Hester investigates, she discovers a conspiracy that someone is determined to keep a secret, whatever the cost.

For fans of The Silent Companions and The Familiars, a propulsive gothic mystery that invites the reader to unlock the secrets of Nottinghamshire's infamous Southwell workhouse.

Congratulations to MG Leonard and Sam Sedgman - their fourth book in the Adventures on Trains series is published today by Macmillan, as Harrison Beck investigates an ancient family curse high in the German mountains.

A mysterious letter from an old friend asks Hal and Uncle Nat to help investigate a spooky supernatural mystery. Legend has it the Kratzensteins, a family of rich and powerful railway tycoons, are cursed, but there is no such thing as a curse, is there?...

In the next spine-tingling Eerie-on-Sea mystery, shady magic and gloomy ancient legends loom large once more as Herbie Lemon and Violet Parma have to deal with the threat that the Shadowghast—an ancient spirit in a lantern – is now posing to the town. Published today by Walker Books, Shadowghast is the third book in the series.

A creepy magician with a shadowy act. A legend that goes back to the dawn of time. Eerie-on-Sea just got stranger. And darker...

'Taylor's magical touch makes you believe the impossible.' - Catherine Doyle.

Congratulations, Thomas.

We are delighted that Bastien Bonlivre is Waterstones Children’s Book of the Month for September.

Set amidst the landmarks of Paris, Clare’s enchanting adventure makes perfect reading for all young bookworms as Bastien attempts to finish his parents’ story whilst thwarting the ingenious schemes of a master criminal.

The open door felt like an invitation, or a trap. Bastien wasn't sure which, but with no other choice, he stepped inside...and hoped he'd make it out again alive.

Published by Usborne Publishing, this is a tale of friendship, hope, bravery and the power of imagination.

The happiest of publication days to Nina and her beautiful book, Small Bodies of Water, published today by Canongate Books.

Home is many people and places and languages, some separated by oceans.

Nina Mingya Powles first learned to swim in Borneo – where her mother was born and her grandfather studied freshwater fish. There, the local swimming pool became her first body of water. Through her life there have been others that have meant different things, but have still been, in their own way, home: from the wild coastline of New Zealand to a pond in northwest London.

In powerful prose, Small Bodies of Water weaves together personal memories, dreams and nature writing.

We're delighted to share the news that Kerri ni Dochartaigh’s Thin Places has been shortlisted for the Wainwright Prize for Nature Writing.

In Thin Places, a mixture of memoir, history and nature writing, Kerri explores how nature helped her heal, how violence and poverty are never more than a stone's throw from beauty and hope, and how we are, once again, allowing our borders to become hard, and terror to creep back in. Kerri asks us to reclaim our landscape through language and study, and remember that the land we fight over is much more than lines on a map. It will always be ours but, at the same time, it never really was.

The winner will announced in early September.

We are so thrilled that Octavia’s debut, This Ragged Grace, will be published by Simon Thorogood at Canongate.

Octavia tells the story of her journey to recovery from alcohol addiction, and the parallel story of her father’s descent into Alzheimer’s. As Octavia moves between London, the island of Stromboli, New York, Cornwall and Margate, each place offers something new but ultimately always delivers the same message: that wherever you go, you take yourself with you.

US and translation rights are represented by PFD.

Co-author of the successful mid-grade series, Adventures on Trains, Sam Sedgman’s debut solo project will be published by Macmillan Children’s Books next February. Entitled Epic Adventures: Explore the World in 12 Amazing Train Journeys, it is a nonfiction book, illustrated by Sam Brewster, exploring the most amazing railway journeys on the planet.

For fans of trains and travel of all ages, this book is packed with the thrill and wonder of exploring the world by rail!

Congratulations, Sam.