Hannah Schofield

I am a British-Luxembourgish literary agent currently based in London at LBA agency. I represent a wide range of adult fiction, with select non-fiction and YA. I am a voracious and eclectic reader, and my client list reflects that – I can get excited about a swoony commercial romance one day, and a deeply-researched popular history project the next. While I do have areas in which I won’t usually venture (if you want to win the Booker Prize, I’m not the agent for you!), I’m always open to being surprised, so if you think we might be a good match, please do consider sending your query my way!

Fiction:

My taste runs more commercial than literary, though some of my favourite novels sit in the sweet spot between the two, like Kiley Reid’s Such A Fun Age, Yaa Gyasi’s Transcendent Kingdom, or anything by Curtis Sittenfeld. While I do like sinking my teeth into deeper themes, I’m eagerly looking for juicy page-turners and highbrow beach reads, where low-stakes interpersonal drama – perhaps in a family, friendship group, or local community – feels incredibly high-stakes: Bad Summer People is a great example. I’m always up for posh people behaving badly!

I love love, and never get tired of finding a new couple to root for, whether that’s in a steamy romcom (with emphasis on ‘com’!) or a more sweeping, epic love story. I am lucky to have a brilliant roster of clients writing romcoms so am particularly selective in this area; I’d would want to find something that’s putting a new spin on the genre, and have a particular gap for sapphic pairings. In romance, I can’t get enough of Tia Williams and Carley Fortune – the yearning! If you have something that could be a comp to either author, please consider sending it my way. And in romantasy I’m after high concept, high stakes and high swoon!

I’m keen to find some genuinely different-feeling historical fiction or historical fantasy, especially if the setting is neither Britain nor America. I’ve recently loved The Familiar and The Warm Hands of Ghosts for their incredibly immersive settings and rich evocation of the past.

In the darker side of fiction (thriller, mystery, suspense) my taste runs the gamut, but a clear and hooky premise will always stand out, and I tend to want my reads female-led. I’d love to see some sharp, relentlessly entertaining thrillers or mysteries – perhaps with a horror-lite twist – that have complex characters at their hearts, and a deep sense of place: Rachel Hawkins, Kara Thomas and Megan Miranda are all favourites in this area.

I’m also open to books which straddle suspense and book club, with strong women leads, that interrogate the world around us and what it means to be a woman in it (though I am not interested in excessive, on-page violence against women); Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll has stuck with me for months. I’m also drawn to antiheroines (with a righteous cause?!) like in Blood Sugar or The Lies I Tell – and I adored My Sister, The Serial Killer, but that’s probably my limit on something that’s on the zany side.

YA was my first love in publishing, and forms a small and passionate part of my list. Top of my wishlist at the moment is a first love story, or anything which has the leap-off-the-page voice of Nina Kenwood’s It Sounded Better In My Head. Vibe is key for YA – I’d be thrilled to find something that feels like a Taylor Swift song!

Non-fiction:

Please think of me for popular history, particularly areas that have been under-taught in western education or women’s/domestic/family/social history – I would always be delighted to hear from experts in those fields.

I also love deep dive explorations of niche areas of culture or history, in the vein of Alice Robb’s personal and sociological examination of ballet in Don’t Think, Dear. Got this for gymnastics, musical theatre, or choral music? Please send my way!

In narrative non-fiction, I wanted to be hooked by a story so outlandish it could be fiction, and am a big fan of non-murder-y true crime, especially with a strong character or cast to anchor the plot, like in the shows Dopesick and The Dropout.

Missed connections:

Here are a few projects that I would have loved to bring to my list – if you have something similar please think of me!

• A nod to the Anna Delvey scandal in a fun romp around upper-class Singapore.
• A modern take on a Romeo and Juliet-style love story (but without the tragic ending), starring two Black British teens.
• An achingly beautiful coming-of-age story about a biracial British woman processing her trauma to live – and love – on her own terms.
• A fantasy academic-rivals-to-lovers romance, stuffed with all my favourite tropes.

I’m not the right fit for:

Children’s books, sci-fi, very grisly horror, all-vibes-no-plot, or a book without speechmarks.

Submission Guidelines

Please submit to me via my submissions email, which can be found (along with FAQs about querying) on the LBA website.

Guidelines & Details