I'm very excited and delighted and generally in a good mood to let you know that there will be two more novels to come from me over the next however many years it takes for me to write them and for them to come out.
After four brilliant years on the Piatkus imprint to bring out The Last Romeo and The Magnificent Sons, I'm staying with Little, Brown but moving what they're calling 'sideways' to Sphere, for the next two.
Full details are in The Bookseller, but I can tell you my new editor will be the lovely Callum Kenny, and that book three is called The Fake-Up and is out in 2022. Will there be a 2022? Who knows?
A brief synopsis: 'Dylan and Flo aren't quite star-crossed lovers, but sometimes it feels like the world is against them. Whether it's cliquey friends or unsupportive family, their relationship is under a constant microscope. So, together, they decide to stage a break-up - vowing to prove to the cynics that they can't live without each other... But when this time apart unexpectedly leads to the success they've both spent years chasing, a reunion becomes more difficult than the pair could have anticipated. Is love really all you need?'
Callum said: 'I am unbelievably proud to bring Justin to the Sphere list. Put simply, there is no one like him writing in this space and The Fake-Up is set to be his best book yet, populated by likeable characters, full of his trademark wit and balanced with incredible warmth. Justin's perspective is completely unique and endlessly fresh, and I can't wait to see his career go from strength to strength'
And as for me, this is what I said: 'I'm delighted to get the chance to write two more novels and kick off this next stage of my career with Sphere. I'm so happy to be working with Callum on these new stories and can't wait for everyone to read The Fake-Up. This year has been a bit of a weird one, to put it mildly, so this is an excellent way to end the year and I'm hugely lucky to get to do this again - and again! Are they sure about this? Too late now, a deal's a deal - as Dynasty's Alexis Carrington famously said: "I have the papers to prove it!"'
Give a quote on a new book deal without mentioning Joan Collins? Couldn't be me.
Anyway, seeing this was a thrill:
I have to thank my two previous editors, Dominic Wakeford and Anna Boatman, for working with me on the first two books - I feel really lucky to have worked with such inspiring and supportive editors when I really didn't know what I was doing. And thank you to Ellie Russell too for all her work on The Magnificent Sons - which we're still in the middle of, really. Paperback is coming in 2021.
Needless to say, The Fake-Up will be available to preorder once a release date is set and the first two books are still available to buy.
Main image: I laughed all the way through creating it, just so you know. My great big moon face looming over the books. Amazing.
