Ithaka Press, an imprint of Bonnier Books UK, has made its first fiction acquisition.
Sarah Braybrooke, publishing director, acquired UK and Commonwealth rights to The Group by Sigge Eklund, from William Crona and Erik Larsson at the Albatros Agency.
The Group is an upmarket noir thriller about a woman who moves abroad for an internship at a prestigious museum, only to become obsessed with a beautiful, glamorous group of young people she meets. Desperate to join them, when she discovers an uncatalogued etching by Goya in the museum’s archives, she makes a decision which plunges her into a series of deceptions with ever escalating stakes.
The Group shot to the top of the bestseller charts upon release in Eklund’s native Sweden in late 2023. Reviews in Sweden have praised its combination of ‘craftsmanship and artistic ambition’ (Expressen) and labelled it ‘a stylistically confident page-turner’ (Sydsvenskan), as well as comparing the book to The Talented Mr Ripley by Patricia Highsmith and Donna Tartt’s The Secret History (Geffle Dagblad).
Sigge Eklund said: ‘It’s an honour that Ithaka Press have chosen The Group as their first translated fiction title. I have every confidence in Sarah Braybrooke and her team and couldn’t be happier with the level of enthusiasm that they have brought to working with my book.’
Sarah Braybrooke said: ‘Sex, obsession, subterfuge, and art theft; Sigge Eklund’s The Group has it all. I couldn’t stop reading this brilliant novel about a young outsider who will stop at nothing to be part of the elite. Eklund is a master of atmosphere, taking you from the searing streets of Madrid to the chill of a museum’s forgotten basement to the gleaming, always-just-out-of-sight world of luxury villas and exclusive parties. We’ve been patiently seeking the perfect title to launch Ithaka’s fiction list, and we’re delighted to begin embarking on that journey with Sigge’s stunning page-turner. Impeccably translated by Rachel Willson-Broyles, Ithaka Press will publish it in August 2024.’
The Group by Sigge Eklund will publish in hardback, eBook, and audiobook on 8th August 2024.
