Abigail Dean
Abigail Dean is represented by Juliet Mushens
Abigail Dean was born in Manchester, and grew up in the Peak District. She studied English Literature at Cambridge University, and graduated with a double first in 2011.
Abigail always loved reading, writing, and talking about books, and her first job was as a bookseller at Waterstones. She later worked as an associate at a New York law firm. Ahead of her thirtieth birthday, she took time off between jobs to work on her first novel, Girl A.
Abigail’s debut novel Girl A sold in the UK after a 9-way auction to HarperCollins who published it in January 2021. The book immediately became a New York Times and Sunday Times Bestseller. It also sold in the US to Viking in a seven-figure deal and has sold in 35 territories including television/film.
Girl A tells the story of Lex, better known to the world as Girl A, who escaped her family home where she and her siblings were held captive by their parents. Now, after her mother’s death, she and her siblings are left the family home. Wanting to transform the House of Horrors into a force for good, Lex must come to terms with her six siblings – and with the childhood they shared.
Her second novel, Day One, is a tender, heartbreaking story about community, tragedy, and the lasting power of love in the wake of a school shooting in a quiet lakeside town in the North of England. It published in March 2024 with Hemlock Press (HarperCollins).
Praise for Girl A:
'It is rare for a novel to be so deft yet devastating. A story of terrible control but also irresistible humanity, Girl A is a portrait of survival, intelligence and love, and it will stay with me for a long time. A book of deep feeling, and an astonishing achievement.' JESSIE BURTON, no. 1 Sunday Times bestselling author of THE MINIATURIST, THE MUSE and THE CONFESSION
‘Girl A isn’t just an astonishingly accomplished debut novel, it’s a masterpiece. With its haunting prose and devastatingly complicated characters, this book asks the reader, in visceral, heartbreaking detail, what we would do to survive. Lex’s story will stay with me for a very long time.’ LOUISE O’NEILL
‘Terrifyingly gripping.’ SUSIE STEINER
‘Gripping, beautifully written perfection.’ SOPHIE HANNAH
‘Girl A is truly my idea of the perfect book: gripping and beautifully written, with complex (and often chilling) characters that are fully realised, and hard to forget. I'll be thinking about this for a long, long time, so… Believe the hype – it really is that good.’ KATIE LOWE
‘Books like GIRL A don’t come along often; it gives you no option but to put your entire life on pause. Abigail Dean is an astonishing new talent and has written a searing, gripping tale of love, loss and survival that exposes the bare bones of humanity and explores how victims cope long after the headlines stop rolling. One of the most compelling novels I’ve read in a long time.’ STACEY HALLS, Sunday Times bestselling author of THE FAMILIARS and THE FOUNDLING
Rights sold:
Girl A: HarperCollins (UK), Viking (US), Dritan (Albania), Verus (Brazil), Riva (Bulgaria), Sonatina (Croatia), Alpress (Czech), Gads (Denmark), Rahva Raamat (Estonia), Aula & Co (Finland), Lattes (France), HarperCollins (Germany), Psichogios (Greece), Libri Könyvkiadó (Hungary), Útgáfan (Iceland), Kinneret (Israel), Einaudi (Italy), Hayakawa (Japan), ABC (Latvia), Alma Littera (Lithuania), HarperCollins (Netherlands), Gursli Berg (Norway), Proszynski Media (Poland), Presenca (Portugal), S.C. Crime Scene Press (Romania), AST (Russia), Vulkan (Serbia), Slovart (Slovakia), Zalozba (Slovenia), Ediciones B (Spain), Forum (Sweden), Locus (Taiwan), Epsilon (Turkey), Family Leisure Club (Ukraine), and Sony (TV).
Day One: HarperCollins (UK), Viking (US), Lattes (France), Psichogios (Greece), Einaudi (Italy), Kinneret (Israel), HarperCollins NL (Netherlands), Gursli-Berg (Norway), Crime Scene Press (Romania) and Ucila (Slovenia).