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Faber to publish new novel by Audrey Magee

Portrait of author Audrey Magee

The Colony is the new novel from Audrey Magee, whose first novel The Undertaking was shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction.

Louisa Joyner acquired rights from Peter Straus at RCW Literary Agency. Faber will publish on 3 February 2022. American rights have been placed with Jenna Johnson at FSG.

Two men arrive to document an island. Mr Lloyd has decided to travel to the island by boat without engine – the authentic experience. Unbeknownst to him, Mr Masson will also soon be arriving for the summer. Both will strive to encapsulate the truth of this place – one in his paintings, the other with his faithful rendition of its speech, the language he hopes to preserve.

But the people who live here on this rock – three miles long and half-a-mile wide – have their own views on what is being recorded, what is being taken and what is given in return. Over the summer each of the women and men in the household this French and Englishman join is forced to question what they value and what they desire. At the end of the summer, as the visitors head home, there will be a reckoning.

Blending the clarity of Colm Tóibín’s prose with the emotional truth of Anne Enright The Colony is a masterclass in belonging and loss.

To publish Audrey Magee is definitely a publishing highlight for me. She marries the cleanest prose with devastating narrative force and her work has a philosophical and political depth you'd need a plumbline to measure accurately. She is surely a literary star in the ascendant and it's a real joy and a privilege to welcome her to Faber.


Louisa Joyner
Associate Publisher
It is a delight and honour to work with Louisa Joyner and the brilliant team at Faber, the imprint of my formative reading, as well as with Jenna Johnson and the terrific crew at FSG. From the beginning, Louisa, Jenna and my wonderful agent Peter Straus, understood the ambition and intention of The Colony, a novel that I hope will contribute to the discussion on what it means to be the colonised and the coloniser.
Audrey Magee
The Colony stops you short with its originality and its nuanced portrait of the webs, linking us all, left across the globe by colonialism. It is enchanting even as it breaks long-cast spells, again and again. We can't wait to introduce it to readers here.
Jenna Johnson

Audrey Magee was born in Ireland and lives in Wicklow. Her first novel, The Undertaking, was shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction, for France’s Festival du Premier Roman and for the Irish Book Awards. It was also nominated for the Dublin Literary Award and the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction. The Undertaking has been translated into ten languages and is being adapted for film.

Contact

For further information please contact:

  • Lauren Nicoll, Publicity & Communications Manager
  • lauren.nicoll@faber.co.uk
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‘A vivid and memorable book about art, land and language, love and sev, youth and age. Big ideas tread lightly through Audrey Magee’s strong prose.’ Sarah Moss