Viking acquire Lizzy Dent’s ‘The Summer Job’ in pre-empt

Viking has pre-empted world rights (excluding Sweden) to The Summer Job by author Lizzy Dent from Hattie Grunewald at The Blair Partnership.

The Summer Job is a laugh-out-loud love story for fans of The Flat Share, about a woman in her thirties who runs away from her life in London and takes a job she is highly unqualified for at a hotel in the Scottish Highlands.

Katy Loftus says: ‘Lizzy Dent is the contemporary fiction voice I’ve been looking for: think Sophie Kinsella’s The Undomestic Goddess for a new generation. Her protagonist has more than a hint of the Fleabag about her, unapologetically dirty and funny, with the rushes of extreme self-consciousness and insecurity we all feel now and then. For the first time in a long time I felt like this was a literary character I could relate to. I am so excited to bring this brilliant writer to the Viking list.’

Hattie Grunewald says: ‘Lizzy Dent and Viking are a match as perfect as Sauvignon Blanc and Seafood. THE SUMMER JOB is a real treat for contemporary fiction readers and I can’t wait to see it hit shelves in 2021.’

Lizzy Dent says: ‘I’m thrilled to be working with Katy and the team at Viking/Penguin on The Summer Job, a book inspired by my own misadventures working in hospitality across Scotland. The pressure to have dreams and goals can feel exhausting and my main character struggles with an instinctive rejection of that ideal. She’s also pretty naughty which frankly, I relate to. I feel so incredibly lucky and grateful.’

Viking will be publishing the book in Summer 2021.