Louise Buckley

Adult fiction 

I would very much welcome submissions from Irish, Welsh and Scottish authors writing upmarket fiction featuring characters that I can’t help but root for. Think Claire Keegan, Louise Kennedy or Jenni Fagan. I am also looking for literary and book-club novels that focus on the underdog, the repressed, the suppressed, especially novels that represent working-class people or children going through difficult circumstances (think Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart, My Name is Leon by Kit de Waal or Boys Don’t Cry by FÍona Scarlett).

In commercial women’s fiction: I’d love to see some sagas (for example Lizzie Lane, Rosie Clarke or Rita Bradshaw), rom-coms (favourite authors include Emily Henry, Kirsty Greenwood and the inimitable Mhairi McFarlane), cosy romance in the vein of The Pumpkin Spice Café or with a stunning location like The Riviera House Swap by Gillian Harvey or The Start of Something Wonderful by Jessica Redland, and cosy rom-coms with a Christmas slant along the lines of One Christmas Eve by Shari Low or Christmas at the Village Sewing Shop by Helen Rolfe.

I recently read and loved The Last List of Mabel Beaumont by Laura Pearson and would love to see anything in the same ‘older person going on a journey’ category, a more recent The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. In a somewhat more niche request, I had a lot of fun publishing a ‘pet fiction’ novel when I was an editor (Molly and the Cat Café) and would love to find an author who can write an Alfie the Doorstep Cat/Dog.

I would LOVE to see some cosy fantasy. Think witches, magical bookshops, talking cats. I really enjoyed Legends and Lattes and The House in the Cerulean Sea. I also enjoy novels set in the real world but featuring a hefty dose of magic or the supernatural. They can be commercial or literary, present-day or historical. Think Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch, Threadneedle by Cari Thomas, A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness or The Gifts by Liz Hyder.

In crime fiction, I am especially enjoying reading cosy or humorous crime. Recently, I absolutely loved Over My Dead Body by Maz Evans, which had me laughing out loud, utterly gripped and yet with a tear in my eye at the end. If your cosy crime novel features Christmas, then extra bonus points.

When I was an editor I published the hit Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll and I’d love to represent incisive, intelligent suspense written by authors such as Jessica Knoll and Gillian Flynn, or something a little more subversive and blackly comic like My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite. I am not currently looking for police procedurals.

I would love to see some dark academia. Think If We Were Villains or In My Dreams I Hold a Knife. I am also a huge fan of gothic horror, so would love to see something that’s a modern-day Shirley Jackson or Rebecca.

More generally, I would also love to see novels with a disabled protagonist or someone (like myself) who is living with an invisible disability.

Adult non-fiction

In non-fiction, I would love to see any submissions that focus on motherhood, especially through the lens of a scientific or neurological perspective. I am also interested in books in the following areas: health and well-being, cookery and food writing, human and social behaviour and psychology, climate change, gardening and permaculture and nature writing.

I am NOT currently looking for:

-romantasy

-epic, traditional fantasy

-space opera

-children’s books

-Science fantasy

-Short stories or novellas

-Police procedurals

-Memoir

Submission Guidelines

Submissions should be emailed to louisesubs@hs-la.com

To submit to me, please follow the guidelines on the HS-LA website and fill in the form on there.

PLEASE NOTE THAT I AM ONLY OPEN FOR THE FIRST SEVEN DAYS OF EACH MONTH. 

Guidelines & Details