Wakefield Press acquires Jodi McAlister YA campus rom-com
Wakefield Press is excited to announce the acquisition of world rights to Jodi McAlister’s YA rom-com Libby Lawrence is Good at Pretending, via Alex Adsett of Alex Adsett Literary. It is scheduled for Australian publication in May 2022.
This sparkling, archly witty campus novel places its sensible heroine, Libby, at the high-drama heart of an amateur theatre production of Much Ado About Nothing, and explores authenticity, friendship and the trickier emotional aspects of sex and romance – all within a rollicking plot. And it skilfully critiques and subverts romantic tropes along the way, from the muddying of sex and power in the #metoo era to when romantic pursuit becomes stalking.
Jodi McAlister is the author of the YA Valentine series, published by Penguin Random House, and will be publishing the first of two adult novels with Simon & Schuster in 2022.
‘I'm unbelievably delighted to be working with Wakefield Press to bring Libby Lawrence and her world to life. Libby has been living in my brain for a long time – ever since I was her age myself – and the fact that she's finally going to be on the page is such an incredible thrill,’ says Jodi.
Her academic work focuses on the history of love, sex, women and girls, popular culture and fiction – and while Libby Lawrence is Pretending is a romantic romp on the surface, the novel is grounded in a deep understanding of her genre and themes.
She says, ‘I grew up in community theatres, so delving back into this setting has tapped a rich vein of memory for me. I hope you all have as much fun exploring this world with Libby and her intense, messy band of theatre kids as I did writing this book.’
‘This dialogue-rich novel combines some of my favourite ingredients: smart, funny, psychologically complex, and addictively immersive,’ says Jo Case, associate publisher at Wakefield Press. ‘Reading this novel felt like watching those great nineties teen comedies that astutely comment on contemporary teens by riffing off great literature. And I love that it’s a campus novel, exploring those years when teens first transition to adulthood, with all the discovery and misadventure that brings.’
ABOUT Libby Lawrence is Good at Pretending
Nineteen-year-old Libby Lawrence is good at pretending. Problem is, she’s not entirely sure how to stop. Which is good for her role in the campus production of Much Ado About Nothing … but poses problems in her personal life. Especially when the list of things she can’t admit to, even to her best friend Ella, starts to build.
Losing her virginity to the too-charming director of her uni theatre group (just before he ran off with the group’s money) is only the start. There’s also an uncomfortable encounter with her broody on-stage love interest Roarke, and her crackling offstage chemistry with nerdy-but-sweet new director Will.
And while Libby is thrilled to finally be on the inside of the uni theatre group she reveres, there’s a downside to being in on all the group chats, drama and backstage gossip. She must discover who she wants to be, who she wants to be with … and how to stop pretending.
Jodi McAlister’s sparkling campus novel is a rom-com about friendship, authenticity, and all the ways we perform ourselves … and the preciousness of those moments when all artifice falls away. Dramatic and wise, it combines the arch wit and sharp banter of Ten Things I Hate About You and Clueless with a knowing heart.