Affirm acquires Cox’s ‘So Many Beats of the Heart’

Affirm Press has acquired world rights to a novel by Perth-based journalist Carrie Cox via Lyn Tranter at Australian Literary Management.

So Many Beats of the Heart is ‘a wonderfully warm and witty novel about a marriage counsellor who suddenly becomes her own case study when her husband abruptly leaves her’, the publisher said.

‘I really wanted to explore the impact of time itself on long‐term relationships—the improbability of two people travelling through it at the same pace and still wanting to be together,’ said Cox. ‘I created a character who knows all the answers but is suddenly left with only questions. I wanted to take her on a journey from the depths of being blindsided to discovering a life beyond the one she’d locked in, and I’m absolutely thrilled that Affirm Press really understood what I was trying to achieve with the book and loved it. I’m in terrific hands.’

Affirm said So Many Beats of the Heart would appeal to fans of Maggie Alderson, Maria Semple and Marian Keyes.

‘Carrie Cox’s writing is exactly what we’re looking for—smart, funny up‐lit which, for all its lightness of touch, shares some deeply insightful truths about humanity, love and relationships,’ said Affirm commercial publisher Kelly Doust.

Cox’s previous novel Afternoons with Harvey Beam was published by Fremantle Press in 2018. She is also the author of the nonfiction book You Take the High Road and I’ll Take the Bus (A&U), based on her weekly satirical column for multiple Australian newspapers.

Affirm will publish So Many Beats of the Heart in the first half of 2022.

Category: Local news Rights and acquisitions