Announcements

BITEBACK TO MARK THATCHER CENTENARY WITH REASSESSMENT OF POST-PREMIERSHIP

Biteback Publishing has acquired a study of Margaret Thatcher’s premier emeritus years, written by Peter Just and released to coincide with her centenary.

The story of Margaret Thatcher’s post-premiership years is a tale of high drama and low farce, with, at its heart, one extraordinary woman. No longer in office but never really out of power, Margaret Thatcher enjoyed perhaps the most consequential ex-premiership in British history. British politics today largely reflects and is a consequence not only of Thatcher’s time in No. 10 but also of her later life and how people reacted and still react to it. It is as much our story as it is hers.

In her centenary year, this book will provide a radical reassessment of how Thatcher’s premier emeritus years have been viewed to date. Covering the four main areas of her work after Downing Street – philosophy, party, policy and performance – and analysing her continued and continuing influence on the Conservative leaders and Prime Ministers of all parties who followed her, it demonstrates why, however small the politics may or may not have got since 1990, Margaret Thatcher is still big.

Peter Just is a research associate of the Centre for Legislative Studies at the University of Hull. He has been studying the lives of former Prime Ministers since 28 November 1990, his research being published in the Journal of Legislative Studies. This is his first book.

James Stephens, publisher at Biteback, acquired world rights direct from the author.

Peter Just said: ‘Margaret Thatcher was not only one of the most impactful Prime Ministers the UK has ever had; she was also one of the most impactful former Prime Ministers the UK has ever had, shaping the ex-premiership just as much as she shaped the premiership. Margaret Thatcher: Life After Downing Street tells the story of Margaret Thatcher’s post-prime ministership: what she did, the reactions she generated and why, in the 2020s, she remains a political force.’

James Stephens said: ‘Whatever you think of her, Margaret Thatcher remains one of the most significant political figures of the past fifty years. Writers, journalists and filmmakers have pored over her life and legacy since she died in 2013. In Margaret Thatcher: Life After Downing Street, however, Peter Just has discovered an exciting new angle on Thatcher and her career: what she did after she left power. This is a bold, brilliant addition to the literature on Margaret Thatcher and will throw light on her enigmatic later days.’

Margaret Thatcher: Life After Downing Street will be published in July 2025, supported by a major marketing and publicity campaign.

Price: £25 hardback

ISBN: 9781785909207

BITEBACK TO MARK JANE AUSTEN ANNIVERSARY WITH JANE AUSTEN AND GEORGE ELIOT: THE LADY AND THE RADICAL

Olivia Beattie, editorial director at Biteback, has acquired UK Commonwealth rights (excluding Canada) to Jane Austen and George Eliot: The Lady and the Radical by Edward Whitley from Mark Lucas at the Soho Agency.

In October 1851, a chance meeting in a bookshop in Piccadilly changed the course of literary history. For it was here that Mary Ann Evans, an unworldly young scholar from the Midlands, was first introduced to the love of her life, the married critic and philosopher George Lewes. Encouraged and supported by Lewes, Mary Ann Evans went on to become the queen of literary London, famous under her pen name, George Eliot.

In nurturing George Eliot’s talent, Lewes drew inspiration from the works of his own favourite writer, an unfashionable author of the previous generation by the name of Jane Austen. On the face of it, Austen and Eliot had little in common. Jane Austen was a genteel spinster who spent her whole life in Hampshire, painting Regency-period domestic dramas with delicate irony and unfailing charm. George Eliot, meanwhile, was a radical intellectual who lived scandalously with a married man, travelled widely in Europe and sought to document with stirring realism the social upheavals of her age.

And yet, when George Eliot embarked on her career as an author in the late 1850s, the works of Jane Austen were at her side and feeding her imagination. Separated by time, circumstance and temperament, the two writers nevertheless had a vital impetus in common: to prove the value of a woman’s eye in a man’s world.

Packed with quotes from letters, diaries and the nation’s favourite novels, Jane Austen and George Eliot: The Lady and the Radical traces the surprising connections between two of the brightest stars of Britain’s literary firmament and, for the first time, shows how each can be illuminated by the other’s light. It will be published in March 2025, to coincide with Jane Austen’s 250th birthday in December 2025.

Edward Whitley said: ‘Jane Austen and George Eliot are magnificent authors who have given me a lifetime of wonderful novels to enjoy. On the surface they are such different writers, but when I came across the deeper connections between them, channelled through the extraordinary letters of Charlotte Brontë and George Lewes, I was inspired to write about how the lives and works of these two literary icons can illuminate each other. I am thrilled that my book has found a home at Biteback Publishing.’

Olivia Beattie said: ‘A long-time Austen fan, I’ve always been faintly ashamed not to have read more George Eliot – until Edward’s lively, accessible and fascinating slice of literary history dropped into my lap. Edward’s passion for his subjects is infectious, and I hope his insight into their worlds will inspire other Austen devotees to stretch along the bookshelf and take a chance on Eliot.’

Jane Austen and George Eliot: The Lady and the Radical by Edward Whitley

Published: March 2025

Price: £20

ISBN: 9781785909542

Biteback Publishing has acquired the authorised biography of distinguished entrepreneur Denis Lynn, written by Jago Pearson.

Denis Lynn was one of the pre-eminent entrepreneurs of his generation. Named by Rick Stein as one of Britain’s food heroes, supplier to Heston Blumenthal’s acclaimed Fat Duck, Marks & Spencer and, in time, every other British supermarket, Lynn built his Finnebrogue business into one of the flag-bearers of the country’s food industry, a pioneer in a period during which the UK truly became a nation of foodies. Lynn’s astonishing success thrust him onto the front pages and his products into nigh on every kitchen table in the land.

Named entrepreneur of the year in 2019 by the Institute of Directors, Lynn was described as an iconoclast with a fearlessness in the face of convention by industry bible The Grocer. His life was more than six decades of high drama, from a childhood in the backstreets of Belfast at the beginning of the Troubles, blighted by family tragedy and personal strife, to the travails of a self-made multi-millionaire with an uncomfortable tolerance for risk and a helter-skelter life lived on the edge. Eventually, a tragic event one Sunday evening on his beloved County Down estate brought an untimely conclusion to one of Northern Ireland’s most noteworthy success stories.

King Charles III heralded Lynn’s ‘great legacy’ upon his death. The newscaster Dermot Murnaghan, a school friend of Lynn’s, remembers the ‘waif and stray’ teenager as he was before bulldozing his way into the big time. From hundreds of hours of interviews with those who loved and loathed him, as well as the intimate personal recollections of working alongside him, Jago Pearson will tell Denis Lynn’s extraordinary tale in this authorised biography, Running Out of Time.

Jago Pearson was Chief Strategy Officer at Denis Lynn’s company Finnebrogue from 2018 to 2024 and continues to sit on the company’s board as a non-executive director. He was formerly a public relations executive and political adviser. Running Out of Time will be his debut book.

Olivia Beattie, Editorial Director at Biteback, acquired world rights direct from the author.

Pearson said: ‘I am delighted to have been entrusted by the Lynn family to tell this jaw-dropping tale, warts and all, and to be working with a publisher of the calibre and reputation of Biteback. It was exhilarating working alongside Denis Lynn and it’s now both a great privilege and a great responsibility to document his six decades of personal and professional drama.’

Beattie said: ‘From the opening lines, Jago’s vivid, immediate prose packs a tremendous narrative punch. There’s no one better placed to tell the story of one of our most remarkable and maverick businessmen. From near bankruptcy to entrepreneurial powerhouse, this is a story of ingenuity and determination, innovation and risk taking, and Biteback are delighted to be putting it into readers’ hands.’

Running Out of Time will be published in 2026, supported by a major marketing and publicity campaign.

Price: £20 hardback

ISBN: 9781785909467

Biteback Publishing has acquired Landslide: The inside story of the 2024 election, a revelatory account of the dramatic vote that reset British politics, by journalists Tim Ross and Rachel Wearmouth.

On 22 May, Rishi Sunak stood outside 10 Downing Street and announced an election would be held on 4 July, taking the country – and his own party – by surprise. Standing unprotected in the pouring rain, the Prime Minister resembled a drowning rat, an image that would follow him for the next six weeks.

After the Conservatives stumbled from one setback to another – with bitter internal feuds boiling over, the PM leaving D-Day events early and the revelation that senior Tories placed bets on the election – Sunak led his party to its worst ever defeat. His rival, Sir Keir Starmer, steered Labour to a historic victory with ruthless discipline but won his landslide with fewer votes than his much-maligned predecessor, Jeremy Corbyn.

In this pacy and colourful new book, seasoned political journalists Tim Ross and Rachel Wearmouth use new interviews and candid private accounts from key players to take the reader behind the scenes of one of the strangest but most consequential elections in recent history.

They explore the decision-making behind the Tories’ missteps and how Starmer hauled Labour back from defeat following the 2019 election but also examine the extraordinary surge in support for Nigel Farage’s Reform UK, the revitalisation of the Liberal Democrats through Ed Davey’s stuntman antics, and the wipeout of the SNP. This inside story is unmissable for anyone seriously interested in politics and what the dramatic Labour landslide of 2024 means for the future of Britain.

Tim Ross is deputy head of news at Politico. He was previously executive editor for politics at the New Statesman and ran UK political coverage for Bloomberg and the Sunday Telegraph. He has written two bestselling books on British elections – explaining how David Cameron shocked pundits and pollsters by winning a majority in 2015 and how Theresa May shocked pundits and pollsters by throwing it away again two years later.

Rachel Wearmouth is a freelance journalist who has previously worked at HuffPost, the Daily Mirror and the New Statesman. She began her career covering politics outside of Westminster, at regional papers in the north of England and at Scotland’s Sunday Post.

Olivia Beattie, editorial director at Biteback, acquired world rights direct from the authors.

Beattie said: ‘Having worked with Tim on his two previous books, Why the Tories Won and Betting the House, I know there’s no one better placed to uncover the behind-the-scenes drama of an election seemingly built of unforced errors. With Rachel also bringing her exceptional analysis and access to the story, this promises to be both a gripping account of a landmark election and a thoughtful, nuanced exploration of the undercurrents shaping British politics.’

Ross and Wearmouth said: ‘This is a rare opportunity to tell the full inside story of a truly historic election. We’re delighted to be working with the country’s leading political publisher to bring this account to readers who want to understand the people and forces that triggered this seismic result, and what the vote says about the state of Britain in 2024.’

Having gone from Leader of the Opposition to Downing Street in a little over four years, Sir Keir Starmer can obviously claim to have re-established the Labour Party as a credible electoral force. And yet with only one in five voters having backed the former lawyer in the general election of 2024, it is clear that most people in Britain remain unconvinced by him.

Is he a competent and moderate figure capable of fixing the economy and reuniting the country? Or is he just another member of the metropolitan elite who is willing to say anything in order to be in power?

In 2021, Biteback published Red Knight, Michael Ashcroft’s unauthorised biography of Sir Keir Starmer. This new book will be completely revised and updated to chart the momentous events since then, also taking in Sir Keir’s first months in office.

Was the self-declared socialist Sir Keir telling the truth when he said wealth creation would be at the heart of his party’s programme for government? Was he being honest when he promised not to raise taxes for “working people”? How realistic is his vow to deal with illegal immigration by “smashing the gangs”?

Picking up where Red Knight left off, the new edition will shed more light on the PM’s personality, explain how he gained the highest office in the land, consider how he is handling life running the country – and judge whether he is doing a good job.

It will be published in the Spring of 2025.