The Great and the Good
Saliha Mahmood-Ahmed and Elly outside no 10
It has been nearly a month since the 2025 London Book Fair and it was an enlivening one. The halls of Olympia were humming, the mood was buoyant and publishers were flaunting their wares to inspiring effect. It’s always gratifying to see our authors’ jackets looking resplendent and it was good to see the cover of Rachel Trethewey’s forthcoming MUV, a biography of the mother of the Mitford Girls, adorning The History Press’s stand. The climate may feel tough (especially for non-fiction) but that didn’t dampen spirits. Although Rights teams are always quick to point out that most of the work / deals happen during the rest of the year, happily we’ve seen a slew of Rights offers coming in for forthcoming books off the back of the Fair’s meetings.
It’s been a very busy start to the year for Saliha Mahmood-Ahmed whose 20-MINUTE GUT HEALTH FIX launched at the end of February, with a packed party at Books For Cooks in Notting Hill. Her appearance on the BBC’s Saturday Kitchen in early March prompted the book to fly up the Amazon charts, reaching the number one spot across all books over the weekend. Saliha is back on Saturday Kitchen tomorrow, demonstrating some quick Easter treats to make with kids that are gut-friendly. Ahead of Ramadan, Saliha had the opportunity to meet the King and Queen at an event celebrating Muslim women’s contributions to British life organized by Asma Khan and, a week later, she was invited to Downing Street to discuss her experiences working on the front line of the NHS with the Prime Minister.
Sam Goldsmith’s THE FROZEN PEAS COOKBOOK was released with a fanfare of pea-loving puns and a party in the Good Food offices where we sipped green champagne cocktails and ate delicious pea, pistachio and matcha cake.
On The fiction front, March also saw the publication of Annabelle Thorpe’s new novel THE MOONLIT PIAZZA which is a sequel to her sweeping World War II saga THE VILLAGE TRATTORIA. Next week, Helen McGinn’s much-anticipated UNDER A RIVIERA MOON will be published and towards the end of the month, the paperback of Louise Minchin’s thriller ISOLATION ISLAND will be hitting the decks.