One of the leading female lights of the alternative comedy scene Jenny Lecoat’s debut novel Hedy’s War has been sold for a six-figure sum to publisher HarperCollins by Polygon, an imprint of Scottish independent publisher Birlinn. Lecoat said: “I am still in shock, thoroughly overwhelmed, delighted, immensely grateful and a little bit terrified. All of which is probably appropriate. Absolutely delighted and looking forward to working with Brittany, everyone at Graydon House and the wider team at HarperCollins US and Canada.”
Polygon will publish in the UK in May 2020 and HarperCollins will publish in the US in spring 2021. Hedy’s War is set in June 1940, on the occupied Channel Islands: “Hedy Bercu is a young Jewish woman who fled from Vienna to escape the Anschluss. She finds herself once more trapped by the Nazis, on the tiny island of Jersey. Concealing her racial status, Hedy finds work with the German authorities as a translator and embarks on acts of resistance.
“Despite herself, she falls in love with Kurt, a German officer – a relationship on which her life soon comes to depend. But as the secret police grow more suspicious and start to close in, a game of cat and mouse ensues as Hedy and her lover must take increasingly desperate measures and rely on the help of friends to evade capture and stay alive.”
Publisher Bryony Lavery said: “I read the whole thing in a day and my heart was in my throat. My whole team is in love too, and it’s the kind of thing with which we can do so, so well – we have a track record of success with Second World War fiction and this is such an interesting and fresh angle on it.”
Hedy’s story is based on a true story, born in Jersey, Lecoat’s parents were raised under the German Occupation and both families were involved in resistance activity. Lecoat moved to England when she turned 18 and became one of the pioneers of the alternative comedy scene performing feminist stand up for 10 years. Since then Lecoat has worked as a journalist, presenter and screenwriter.
