HarperCollins Publishers Australia is delighted to announce the exciting acquisition of The Girl on the Page by Booktopia’s Director of Books, John Purcell. The Girl on the Page is scheduled for publication in Australia in October 2018.
The Girl on the Page is a smart, sexy, provocative and powerful novel of ambition, betrayal and redemption. It follows the story of a hard-drinking, bed-hopping, hot-shot young book editor on a downward spiral. Having made her name and fortune by turning an average thriller writer into an international megastar, Amy Winston is given the unenviable task of steering literary great Helen Owen back on track to meet her publishing deadline. Helen and her husband are brilliant, complicated writers, who unsettle Amy into questioning who she is and what she does for a living – and before Amy knows it, answering these questions becomes a matter of life or death.
Publisher Catherine Milne says: ‘The joy of this novel isn’t just that it’s a complete page-turner, with lashings of sex, glamour, bad behaviour and wonderfully wicked insider publishing references, but that at its heart The Girl on the Page is a deeply serious and intelligent novel about the power of literature, which asks searching questions about art and commerce, integrity and authenticity – it’s razor-sharp, thought-provoking and vastly enjoyable.’
John Purcell says: ‘The characters came to me whole. I felt more like their biographer than creator. The challenge faced by my characters is one we are all facing. Do we take the money and stay silent or do we forgo fame and fortune to stay true to what is right and good? In my current role I have worked closely with people from all the major publishing houses and most of the boutique ones, too. I have interviewed Booker Prize winners and celebrities, chatted with authors who have sold hundreds of millions of books and laughed with nervous debut authors. Though perspectives change, the question of integrity is important to them all. It is this complexity I have attempted to depict in my novel.’
John Purcell has worked in the book industry for the last twenty years. After living in Europe and while still in his twenties, John opened a secondhand bookshop in Sydney, in which he sat for ten years reading, ranting and writing. In 2009, John joined Booktopia, Australia’s largest online bookseller, where he is currently Director of Books. In 2012, under the pseudonym Natasha Walker, John published a bestselling erotic trilogy, The Secret Lives of Emma, which went onto sell over 50,000 copies in the Australian market alone. John has appeared regularly at live events with the Sydney Writers Festival and the Wheeler Centre, and has appeared on Sunrise, Seven News, Nine News and across ABC radio. He also made a surprise appearance in Luke McGregor’s excruciating ABC TV series, Luke Warm Sex.
The Girl on the Page is a smart, sexy, provocative and powerful novel of ambition, betrayal and redemption. It follows the story of a hard-drinking, bed-hopping, hot-shot young book editor on a downward spiral. Having made her name and fortune by turning an average thriller writer into an international megastar, Amy Winston is given the unenviable task of steering literary great Helen Owen back on track to meet her publishing deadline. Helen and her husband are brilliant, complicated writers, who unsettle Amy into questioning who she is and what she does for a living – and before Amy knows it, answering these questions becomes a matter of life or death.
Publisher Catherine Milne says: ‘The joy of this novel isn’t just that it’s a complete page-turner, with lashings of sex, glamour, bad behaviour and wonderfully wicked insider publishing references, but that at its heart The Girl on the Page is a deeply serious and intelligent novel about the power of literature, which asks searching questions about art and commerce, integrity and authenticity – it’s razor-sharp, thought-provoking and vastly enjoyable.’
John Purcell says: ‘The characters came to me whole. I felt more like their biographer than creator. The challenge faced by my characters is one we are all facing. Do we take the money and stay silent or do we forgo fame and fortune to stay true to what is right and good? In my current role I have worked closely with people from all the major publishing houses and most of the boutique ones, too. I have interviewed Booker Prize winners and celebrities, chatted with authors who have sold hundreds of millions of books and laughed with nervous debut authors. Though perspectives change, the question of integrity is important to them all. It is this complexity I have attempted to depict in my novel.’
John Purcell has worked in the book industry for the last twenty years. After living in Europe and while still in his twenties, John opened a secondhand bookshop in Sydney, in which he sat for ten years reading, ranting and writing. In 2009, John joined Booktopia, Australia’s largest online bookseller, where he is currently Director of Books. In 2012, under the pseudonym Natasha Walker, John published a bestselling erotic trilogy, The Secret Lives of Emma, which went onto sell over 50,000 copies in the Australian market alone. John has appeared regularly at live events with the Sydney Writers Festival and the Wheeler Centre, and has appeared on Sunrise, Seven News, Nine News and across ABC radio. He also made a surprise appearance in Luke McGregor’s excruciating ABC TV series, Luke Warm Sex.
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