Daisy Chandley

With fiction, my wishlist roughly falls into three categories – if something feels like it overlaps between them, even better.

• Sharp, original novels on the literary to upmarket spectrum, all the way from dark and boundary-pushing books like Hurricane Season, Under The Skin or In The Cut to those balancing edge, heart and humour, like Detransition, Baby, The Idiot, or Greta and Valdin. I love irreverent wit, incisive observation, boldness in story or form, and unsettling undertones (or overtones) in equal measure, and would love to find books that – in the tradition of authors like Toni Morrison and Lorrie Moore – draw characters and depict life in a way that is deeply and sincerely emotional without losing that touch of humour and brutality that keep it from sentimentality. Some recent (to me) favourites have been Sheila Heti’s Motherhood, Solvej Balle’s On The Calculation of Volume, and Laurie Colwin’s Another Marvelous Thing.
• Romance, particularly romance with humour to it. This of course includes romcoms (whether a fresh take on a tropey contemporary romcom or the more unusual, genre-bending style of something like Palm Springs), but a straightforward contemporary romance, paranormal romance, horrrormance or grounded romantasy that features plenty of snarky bickering or flirting-via-bullying absolutely fits the bill too. At the moment I’d love to find dark academia, enemies to lovers where they’re actually enemies, anything that has the energy of the golden age of the CW (i.e has a The Vampire Diaries, Pretty Little Liars or Gossip Girl edge), and/or anything that feels really decadent and sexy without being too heavy on the fantasy worldbuilding.
• Mysteries – I’m not the right person for straightforward commercial crime or thrillers, but I’m always keen to see a well crafted mystery outside of that particular space. Whether it’s a smart and fresh puzzle box in the vein of Knives Out, a grown-up Nancy Drew-style amateur sleuth, or something contemporary with the feel of classic detective fiction like The Devotion of Suspect X, I’m desperate to find an unforgettable twist.

I’m definitely interested in literary speculative fiction, though I’m not generally looking for hard SFF, and don’t represent children’s authors, However, I’m very happy to look at romantasy that the author considers to be YA as long as the protagonists are over 18.

On the non-fiction side, I’m looking for insightful new voices and captivating stories in science and nature, art and culture, social issues and politics, and love and relationships. I love to read across the whole spectrum in these areas, from an expert making a groundbreaking new theory accessible and relevant, to more personal, narrative writing that blurs and pushes boundaries with topic and approach. Some recent favourites have been Chiara Barzini’s Aqua, Lamorna Ash’s Don’t Forget We’re Here Forever, Jason Okundaye’s Revolutionary Acts and Emily LaBarge’s Dog Days. I don’t work on much straight practical self-help, personal development, or pure memoir, but am definitely interested to see things that sit across those lines, such as narrative non-fiction integrating elements of memoir, or a more literary or scientific approach to a way we can live better.

I’d also love to find illustrated non-fiction on the less narrative side – anything from upmarket, playful gift books to fresh and covetable approaches to food and drink writing, especially if you have an existing platform in any space that you want to draw on.