Hearty congratulations to Catherine Simpson, whose novel Truestory will be published next year by Sandstone Press - the second graduate of the Edinburgh Napier Creative Writing MA to have their major project published in 2015!
Catherine's debut novel tells the story of a mother trapped on a remote Lancashire farm because her autistic son refuses to leave it, and what happens when her husband brings home rootless wanderer Larry to help on the farm.
The opening chapters of Truestory secured a Distinction for Catherine's major project on the MA, and subsequently won her a Creative Scotland New Writers Award for Fiction. The deal with Sandstone Press was negotiated by Catherine's agent, Joanna Swainson of Hardman & Swainson.
Cover artwork has just been released for Wasp by Ian Garbutt, which is being published by Polygon Books next March. Like Truestory, Wasp was created as a major project on our MA programme. It secured a Distinction for Ian, and also brought him representation by Jenny Brown at Jenny Brown Associates.
Wasp tells the story of a disgraced governess who is brought to the mysterious House of Masques, a sanctuary for young women on the margins of society. But her arrival triggers a power struggle that threatens to destroy the house.
Alison Rae at Polygon describes Wasp as 'a tour de force of storytelling which will appeal to readers of Perfume and The Crimson Petal and the White.' It will be published on March 15th.
