Tor UK acquires debut zombie love story
Tor, an imprint of Pan Macmillan, is thrilled to announce the acquisition of One Yellow Eye, plus a second speculative fiction novel by Leigh Radford. Editorial director Sophie Robinson acquired UK and British Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada, at auction, in a six-figure deal from Hayley Steed at Janklow & Nesbit UK. North American rights were sold to Kimberley Laws at Gallery Books, Simon & Schuster US by Kirby Kim.
Tor, an imprint of Pan Macmillan, is thrilled to announce the acquisition of One Yellow Eye, plus a second speculative fiction novel by Leigh Radford. Editorial director Sophie Robinson acquired UK and British Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada, at auction, in a six-figure deal from Hayley Steed at Janklow & Nesbit UK. North American rights were sold to Kimberley Laws at Gallery Books, Simon & Schuster US by Kirby Kim.
One Yellow Eye is a harrowing, yet darkly fun love story about Kesta, a scientist racing to find a cure to a zombie virus, while secretly keeping the last person to be infected – her husband – tied up in the spare room.
Sophie Robinson comments: ‘One Yellow Eye is the zombie love story I didn’t know I needed. It has broken hearts all across the Macmillan team. It’s a ticking time bomb of a novel that blends gut-wrenching emotion with unbearable tension and sharp black humour. Kesta felt like she could have been any one of us, willing to do whatever it takes to save the ones we love and the final chapter had me gulping back tears on a packed commuter train. One Yellow Eye will stay with readers long after they’ve finished reading.’
Debut author Leigh Radford says: ‘The story behind One Yellow Eye is deeply personal and I’m humbled by the prospect of sharing it with readers. Sophie and Tor have given Kesta and I an exceptional home and I feel very privileged to be publishing with them. Hayley has been a prodigious champion of the novel since it was barely half a draft and I only hope to repay the faith and generosity that she, Pan Macmillan and the team at Simon & Schuster in the US have shown me. I am simply elated.’
Hayley Steed, literary agent at Janklow & Nesbit UK says: ‘Leigh’s debut novel completely blew me away – I knew I wanted to sign it from the very first page. It reads like a thriller as Kesta tries to find the cure to save her husband from a zombie virus, but it’s ultimately about the things we do for the people we love, even if it’s futile. It blends genres so brilliantly, and the zombies are a glorious added bonus.’
Tor UK will publish One Yellow Eye on 1st May 2025 simultaneously with Gallery Books US.
About the author
Leigh Radford trained as a broadcast journalist. She produced and presented arts and entertainment content for commercial radio, Time Out, The Times and The Sun, along with documentaries for the BBC, including Rilke’s Women for Radio 4. A former book publicist, she is a 2023 graduate of Faber Academy. She is currently developing content for film and television through her production company, Kenosha Kickers.
About Tor UK
Tor UK specializes in speculative fiction and is a destination for the best in imaginative storytelling. A sister company to Tor Books in the US, Tor UK publishes an impressive array of award-winners, bestsellers, household names and talented debut authors. Tor’s mission is to publish out-of-this-world genre fiction and bring readers books that spark joy. It strives every year to increase the diversity of its list, publishing authors from minority backgrounds and increasing positive representation of gender issues through fiction.(www.panmacmillan.com/tor)
About Pan Macmillan
Pan Macmillan is an international consumer book publisher based in the UK, publishing a very broad range of books in all formats, including print, ebook and audio, for today’s readers. Its adult book imprints include Bluebird, Macmillan, Macmillan Business, Macmillan Audio, Macmillan Collector’s Library, Mantle, One Boat, Pan, Picador and Tor. Children’s Book imprints include Macmillan Children’s Books, Campbell, Kingfisher and Two Hoots. (www.panmacmillan.com)
Pan Macmillan is part of Macmillan Publishers International Ltd (MPIL), a division of the Holtzbrinck Publishing Group (www.holtzbrinck.com), a large family-owned media company based in Stuttgart.