Monday, 25 August 2025 Books+Publishing @booksandpublishing
Atlantic Books Australia, a division of Allen & Unwin, has acquired UK/ANZ rights to Start at the End by Emma Grey, in a two-book deal brokered by Anjanette Fennell at Key People Literary Management.
Start at the End centres themes of love, loss, grief and hope and follows the couple Audrey and Fraser who have ‘an epic, unbreakable love story – until one tragic moment upends everything,’ said the publisher.
Based in Canberra, Grey is the author of six novels including The Last Love Note (Michael Joseph), Pictures of You (Penguin) and Tilly Maguire and the Royal Wedding Mess (HarperCollins). Pictures of You won the gold medal in the American Independent Publisher Book Awards and was shortlisted in the ACT Literary Awards.
She said, ‘Ever since tragedy struck my own life nine years ago, I’ve been drawn to the “what ifs” and the idea that one small choice can fling your story onto an unfathomable new path. This was a deliciously thought-provoking, hopeful and romantic novel to write. A reminder that it’s never too late to start again and that, even after great loss, we can scoop up our dreams and carry them down unexpected new avenues.’
Publisher Cate Paterson said, ‘Emma Grey’s writing is totally immersive. At a time when we are easily side-tracked by the slightest distraction, Start at the End is written so beautifully, so sensitively, that the outside world was silenced once I started reading and I was in the romantic trenches with Audrey and Fraser and didn’t want their story to end. But as Emma so perfectly illustrates, one story’s ending is the opportunity for a new beginning.’
Atlantic Books plans to publish Start at the End in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand in April 2026, with simultaneous publication in North America through Zibby Books and the UK through Corvus, an imprint of Atlantic Books.
Category: Local news Rights and acquisitions