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For London-based reading groups: Be part of the publishing process!

We are looking for three opinionated and enthusiastic London-based reading groups to be part of the publishing process for forthcoming novel looking behind the scenes of Westminster, The Threat Level Remains Severe by debut writer and House of Commons secretary Rowena Macdonald. Groups will be invited to provide their honest feedback and meet the Aardvark Bureau publishing team at their headquarters in Belgravia Books in London in April or May.

The successful groups will receive advance copies of The Threat Level Remains Severe for each group member and feedback forms to complete and return.

Please log in and tell us why your reading group should take part by 14 March.

About the book

The novel tells the story of parliamentary administrator Grace Ambrose, whose dull working life in the dusty House of Commons is enlivened and then thrown into disarray by the arrival of a new high-flying colleague and an email from an admirer, who may not be who he says he is…

Combining the wit, tender pathos and realism of Bridget Jones’s Diary with an atmosphere of menace reminiscent of Alys Always, The Threat Level Remains Severe is set to be the smart summer read of 2017. A brilliantly observed portrait of the less glamorous side of city life and of the world of modern dating, it is also a psychologically complex study of how we perceive others and are perceived by them.

About the author

Rowena Macdonald was shortlisted for the 2016 Galley Beggar Prize for her story ‘Feathered Friends’, praised by the judges as ‘a fine mixture of light and dark’. Her debut story collection, Smoked Meat, was shortlisted for the 2012 Edge Hill Prize. Her second collection will be published by Influx Press in 2018. Rowena’s stories have been published by Galley Beggar Press, Influx Press, Ambit, Unthank Books, and Serpent’s Tail, among others. She has won two Asham Awards, the 2010 Exeter Writers competition and the 2008 Writers Inc competition.

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