FICTION

NON FICTION

ESTATES

  • Billy Bunter
  • Denise Robins

Carolyn Jess-Cooke

Carolyn Jess-CookeCarolyn Jess-Cooke was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Following a BA, MA, and PhD at Queen's University, she took up a lectureship in Film Studies at the University of Sunderland.

She has published four non-fiction books in the field of Film Studies and Shakespeare, and her poetry collection, INROADS, is being published by Seren in 2010. She has received a number of significant awards for writing, including a Northern Promise Award, the Tyrone Guthrie Prize for Poetry, a major Arts Council Award, an Eric Gregory Award from the Society of Authors, and a prize in the Cardiff International Poetry Competition. She is Poetry Advisor for Mslexia and a Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at Northumbria University.

She now lives in the north east of England with her family.


The Guardian Angel's Journal

To be published by Little Brown/Piatkus, spring 2011.

When Margot Delacroix dies at forty-two years old, she is sent back to earth as a guardian angel – to herself. Renamed Ruth, she is forced by divine mandate to re-experience and record her biggest mistakes and fiercest regrets from the beginning of her life to her untimely death. Returning to the moment of her birth, Ruth gets her first glimpse of her angelic abilities, for when baby Margot dies, it is Ruth who revives the child and brings her back to life.

Forced from this point to witness the cogs of fate and the stuttering engine of free will, Ruth sets out to change the course of her life, and, ultimately, to prevent her premature death. When she realises that the reasons behind her teenage son’s descent into drugs and murder lay within her own actions as Margot, she makes a pact with a demon – she will give up her place in Heaven in exchange for the opportunity to save her son from his fate. But the changes she makes result in consequences no one could expect…

An intriguing, visually gripping story that navigates the pitfalls of humanity and the labyrinths of the spiritual world, THE GUARDIAN ANGEL’S JOURNAL is about love, regret, hope, and the opportunity to beat all odds.

‘Everyone at Little, Brown was swept away by the author’s amazing innovation. This is a novel about love, regret and hope and delves into that huge question of what we would change about the life we’ve already lived. It’s complex, intelligent but beautifully accessible and, with angels never so much in vogue, we’re delighted to be making this into our super-lead fiction title of 2011. With its massive commercial appeal, it’s certainly a book that’s going to get everyone talking.’ - Emma Beswetherick, UK editor

Rights information
Territory Publisher/Agent
World Darley Anderson Agency
UK & Commonwealth Little Brown/Piatkus
Brazil Rocco
China Beijing Book Company
Croatia Naklada Ljevak
France JC Lattes
Germany Piper
Italy Longanesi
The Netherlands AW Bruna / Orlando
Poland Otwarte
Portugal ASA
Russia Eksmo
Serbia Alnari