Oneworld signs debut horror novel THE HAND THAT FEEDS YOU by Erica Buist from Agent and Head of Books, Jade Kavanagh!
Oneworld Publishing Director Wayne Brookes has acquired two literary horror novels from Guardian journalist and viral blogger Erica Buist. Whilst Brookes bought UK & Commonwealth rights, including audio, to The Hand that Feeds You, and one other novel at auction. US rights sold at auction to Char Dreyer at St Martin’s Press.
‘After a fire destroys his life, Evan ends up on the streets of London, mute with grief.
‘When an eerily thin, emotionally blank woman named Bernadette offers him the use of her empty Belgravia flat in exchange for five square centimetres of skin per month, he takes the deal. He knows she’s insane. But she’s offering what no council waiting list, no outreach worker, no amount of cardboard signs can: a rung on the ladder back to society.
‘As Evan claws his way back to normality – landing a job in a cook shop, befriending his endearingly dorky colleagues, saving for a deposit on any crappy little room in the city – Bernadette tightens her grip. She sabotages his escape route with chilling precision, and draws him into a cabal of wealthy cannibals whose annual “dinner party” reveals the full horror of what she is. Trapped between the streets that nearly killed him and the monster who might finish the job, Evan must decide what – and who – he’s willing to sacrifice to survive.
‘In a city of nine million people, no one can hear him scream.’
Brookes said: “The Hand that Feeds You is a novel that grabs you in a steely grip from page one and continues to squeeze the fear long after the final page. I’ve been searching for a new voice in horror for a long time, something different with a fresh, sharp and unsettling tone. I’ve been a fan of horror since my teens and I believe Erica Buist has everything you need to become a huge name in the genre. I will never forget these characters, and I’m already looking forward to seeing what nightmares Erica’s amazing mind will conjure up next.”
Buist said: “I am beyond delighted to be working with my brilliant editors, Wayne Brookes and Kobe Grant at Oneworld and Char Dreyer at St Martin’s. It’s always a leap of madness to show someone your novel and hope it lands – but when it’s about a cannibal landlady, you run the risk of people putting it down to check you’re ok. So, I could not be more grateful to my agent, Jade Kavanagh, for her immediate enthusiasm when I sent her a sample, and for finding it two such incredible homes.”
Kavanagh added: “From the moment I started reading The Hand that Feeds You I’ve been completely obsessed! With the story, and with Erica’s extraordinary talent. I am thrilled that Erica has found such perfect publishing homes in both the UK and the US. Wayne and the brilliant Oneworld team are a dream match for Erica and her debut, and the wonderful Char and the team at St Martin’s make this an incredible powerhouse partnership on both sides of the Atlantic! I can’t wait to see this book out in the world.”
The Hand that Feeds You is Erica’s first novel and will be published in hardcover in the UK late summer 2027 and in the US winter 2028.
