Hello, hello, hello!

I am so thrilled to be able to tell you my exciting news. I’ve signed a new two book deal with Sphere (a division of Little Brown.)

My next novel (title to be confirmed) will be released late 2015. It’s a story about a seventeen year old girl who runs away to London in 1943 to jitterbug with GIs and eat donuts at Rainbow Corner, the American Red Cross Club in Piccadilly. And it’s also the story of another teenage girl who runs away to London some sixty years later to escape a terrible secret, and the woman she becomes.

Policemen, soldiers and women dancing in street at Rainbow Corner. 8 May 1945

It’s a love story. It’s a story about finding somewhere to call home. It’s about impossible men. It’s about feeling safe. I think it will make you laugh and I hope that it will make you cry big snotty sobs in at least five different places.

It shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone who follows me on Twitter, that I’ve written a novel that’s not just a contemporary love story but is also set during the Second World War. I’m absolutely fascinated by the 1940′s and it’s always been by intention to write a story that’s partly set in that era.

I spent eighteen months writing this book out of contract – it’s been a real labour of love and I absolutely can’t wait for people to actually read it. Only a year to go!

Live on

Sarra x

This is the official announcement that went out today from Sphere.

Manning moves to Sphere in two-novel deal

• 28 October 2014

Manpreet Grewal at Sphere/Little Brown has acquired two adult novels by Sarra Manning, who is moving from Transworld.

Sphere has UK/Commonwealth rights from Karolina Sutton at Curtis Brown in novels that “encompass a historical setting – a new direction that Sphere has plans to expand on with her next books”. The first of the two will be published in late 2015.

Manning’s new novel combines an uncompromising contemporary love story with a historical narrative set in London during the Blitz, when young women and GIs escaped the brutality of war by experiencing the giddy thrills of dancing at Rainbow Corner, the American Red Cross club at Piccadilly Circus.

Grewal said: “I’ve been a fan of Sarra’s writing for years and I’m thrilled to be welcoming her to Sphere as she moves in this exciting new direction. Sarra is a remarkable writer but her new novel takes her to another level entirely – it’s an epic, emotional and highly satisfying read that pulls no punches in its honest and unsentimental portrayal of the entire gamut of human relationships. Readers are going to love it.”

Manning is the author of four previous adult novels, including Unsticky and You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me. Her most recent YA novels are published by Atom, Sphere’s sister imprint at LB.