Francesca Best, Senior Commissioning Editor at Transworld, has acquired world rights in two novels from Charlene Allcott, one of Penguin Random House UK’s 2016 WriteNow mentees and the first of the group to be offered a publishing contract.
Born and raised in London and now living in Brighton, Charlene works part-time with young people in a residential care home as well as caring for her three-year-old son who has autism. Her debut novel, currently titled The Reinvention of Martha Ross, is a raw, honest and hilarious re-coming of age story about call-centre worker Martha, who must come to terms with the breakdown of her marriage and get her life back on track. It will be published in summer 2018 with a second novel coming out the following year.
Charlene is one of twelve exceptional writers selected for the inaugural WriteNow mentoring programme, which was launched in 2016 by Penguin Random House UK to find, mentor and publish new voices from communities under-represented on the UK’s bookshelves. Charlene has worked closely with Francesca in a mentoring capacity over the last six months to develop her manuscript for The Reinvention of Martha Ross.