Pantera Press acquire ANZ rights for THE COVERED WIFE by Lisa Emanuel

Pantera Press has bought ANZ rights for The Covered Wife, a powerfully compelling fiction debut by Lisa Emanuel, from Catherine Drayton at InkWell Management.

In The Covered Wife an ambitious young lawyer finds herself falling under the thrall of an oppressive and potentially dangerous religious commune, and of one of its charismatic leaders. It’s a gripping examination of power, loneliness and how far a person will go to find belonging.

The novel was shortlisted in the 2019 Kill Your Darlings Unpublished Manuscript Award who described it as ‘a story about power and the abuse of it, as well as the lengths some of us will go to find belonging.’

Lex Hirst, Publisher at Pantera Press, says:

“The Covered Wife is spellbinding – a magnificent literary debut that reads like a thriller, it speaks directly to the isolating nature of modern life, and our yearning for connection.

“Lisa writes effortlessly about the way the boundaries and power in relationships shift over time, and how a person searching for love and purpose could find themselves trapped on a dark path.”

Lisa Emanuel studied law and political science in Wellington, Jerusalem and Sydney and has worked as a political staffer, a judge’s associate and a competition lawyer. She studied at the Faber Writing Academy, completed a mentorship with the novelist Kathryn Heyman, and was awarded Highly Commended in the ASA Mentorship Prize for an early draft of this manuscript.

“I am incredibly excited to be publishing my debut novel with Pantera Press,” says Emanuel.

“As soon as I met Lex and the team and heard first-hand about their passion for publishing great Australian stories, I knew The Covered Wife had found its perfect home and champion.”

The Covered Wife will be published in 2021.

 

---

For further information contact Anabel Pandiella

Tel: 0412 699 556 | E: anabel.pandiella@panterapress.com