Manilla Press, an imprint of Bonnier Books UK, will publish the new book from the international bestselling author of Lessons in Chemistry, Bonnie Garmus, this October.
Sarah Benton, co-CEO of Bonnier Books UK, and Sophie Orme, publisher at Manilla Press, acquired UK & Commonwealth rights (excluding Canada and Europe) to Peck & Peck from Felicity Blunt at Curtis Brown. The book will also be published in the US by Scribner and in Canada by Simon & Schuster Canada. Piper (part of BonnierMedia Germany) will publish in both German and English across Europe.
Batter Gray is worried about his future. Even when he was eleven, his classmates seemed to have settled on a goal: doctor, lawyer, broker, engineer. Good jobs that automatically command respect and security. Now Batter is in his early 20s, living in New York City, and he wants something different; something that alienates some people and bores most. Poetry. And yet—to him and exactly thirty-nine editors at a company called Peck & Peck—poetry not only represents the power of humanity but holds the key to its survival. Batter was named after his mother’s dog, who seemed to have achieved more in his short years on earth than he ever will. But as an identical twin who lost his brother at birth, Batter finds himself confronted by the everyday dualities that make up life: right vs. wrong, truth vs. lies, rejection vs. acceptance. It’s almost as if his dead brother is a reminder: there are always two sides to every story. No, wait. Make that three.
Bonnie Garmus said: ‘At a time when AI threatens to bury the creative industry, going into the Arts seems especially risky. But the truth is, we need the Arts and artists more than ever. Peck & Peck is all about the unsung heroes who create, who originate, who think, but it is also about those who protect and promote this work–in a word: editors. I couldn’t be more thrilled to be partnering with the highly creative minds at Manilla Press to bring this novel into the world!’
Felicity Blunt said: ‘This is a dazzling extraordinary novel that, on finishing, will leave you cherishing and determined to safeguard all that is brilliant and original to humankind. There are sentences from this book that will stay with me forever. I am so excited for Bonnier to bring Peck & Peck to the world.’
Sarah Benton and Sophie Orme said: ‘Before we opened the pages of Peck & Peck it was hard to imagine how Bonnie could follow a book as special as Lessons in Chemistry. But this utterly irresistible tale of a young man whose life turns upside down when he is hired by the most prestigious, secretive, and dysfunctional poetry journal in the world held us all spellbound. Hugely original, brilliantly funny and peopled with unforgettable characters, Peck & Peck is both a passionate ode to the written word and a heartwarming exploration of all that makes us human. And just as with Elizabeth Zott, everyone will remember what they were doing when they first met Batter Gray.’
Rights have further been sold in France (Laffont), Italy (Rizzoli), Spain (Planeta – Seix Barral) and Sweden (Wahlström & Widstrand, Bonnier) with more to follow.
Peck & Peck will be published in hardback, eBook and audiobook on 27th October 2026.
Photo credit: Moya Nolan
