High Spot Literary is delighted to announce that World Rights to Auckland-based author and NZSA member Caroline Barron’s first novel have been acquired by Affirm Press in Melbourne, Australia.

Set in the mid-nineties, GOLDEN DAYS is the story of the intense friendship between bookish Becky and sparkling Zoe—music, clubs, art collaboration, spirituality, sex—and what happens when one terrifying night changes their lives, and destroys their friendship, seemingly forever.

Barron’s memoir, Ripiro Beach: A Memoir of Life After Near Death (Bateman, 2020) won the New Zealand Heritage Literary Award for Best Non-fiction Book in 2020. She holds a MA in Creative Writing from the University of Auckland plus a journalism degree, and in a previous life owned and ran Nova—a leading Auckland model and talent agency.

“As New Zealand audiences already know, Caroline Barron is a real gem. I was hooked by GOLDEN DAYS from the very first page with its compelling exploration of memory, grief, creativity and female friendships,” said Affirm Press’s Publisher of Commercial Fiction, Kelly Doust. “Detailing an intense friendship between two young women and the tragic event that tears them apart, GOLDEN DAYS has a wonderful nostalgia about it, while still leaning into the darkness of that time. Affirm Press is delighted to be publishing Caroline’s debut novel in the ANZ market, and to be introducing her to a whole new audience in New Zealand, Australia and beyond.” Affirm Press plans to publish GOLDEN DAYS in 2023.

Barron is equally thrilled to have signed the deal with Affirm Press. “I’ve found a kindred spirit in publisher, Kelly Doust, and I’m so looking forward to working with her and the Affirm Press team on my forthcoming novel, Golden Days—and to introducing Becky and Zoe’s dazzling and dangerous friendship to the world.”

“We couldn’t be more thrilled to begin our relationship with Affirm Press with Caroline Barron’s wonderful novel,” said High Spot Literary co-founder Nadine Rubin Nathan. “I relate very strongly to the all-consuming female friendship at the centre of GOLDEN DAYS and I was intent on finding Caroline the perfect publishing home for her fiction writing. I am so thrilled that Kelly Doust and the team at Affirm Press feel the same and are as excited as we are and eager to invest in Caroline’s fiction career. I look forward to working alongside them to bring Caroline’s novel to as wide a readership as possible.”

For more info: Nadine@highspotlit.com