Originally Posted by
Luis Anaconda
"About 18 months ago, Imogen Hermes Gowar found herself the focus of a publishing bidding war. What started as a 10-way auction for her debut historical novel, The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock, was whittled down to three final bidders. Gowar favoured Harvill Secker, but its bid of £205,000 was the lowest. “We went back and asked, ‘Can we have it in guineas?’”
Gowar, 30, tells this anecdote in the graveyard of St Nicholas Deptford, as we tour the historic sites of the southeast London neighbourhood. I laugh delightedly, because — as well as cannily upping her advance by a shilling in every pound to £215,000 — this negotiation mirrors a pivotal deal in her novel."
Jesus ****ing wept