Jennifer Bayliss-Jennings‘ debut festive feel-good romance novel, The Twelve Dates of Christmas has been sold at auction to Pan Macmillan in a two-book deal.
UK & Commonwealth right were sold to a delighted Jayne Osborne following a four-way auction, who said: “I was totally swept away by this utterly perfect Christmas story. Jennifer’s writing sparkles with such warmth, humour and relatability. I couldn’t be more delighted to welcome her to the Pan Macmillan list and I can’t wait for readers to fall in love with Kate as she navigates a festive season of dating highs and some laugh-out-loud lows!”
Jennifer said of the deal: “I am so excited to be working with Jayne and the team at Pan Macmillan. I had such a lovely time writing The Twelve Dates of Christmas and the whole experience thereafter has been wonderful. Hayley at the Madeleine Milburn Literary Agency has had my back from day one and been a constant support.”
The Twelve Dates of Christmas follows the story of Kate Turner, who moved back home to Blexford to help out her Dad, but didn’t expect to stay…
But here she still is, four years later, baking for her friend Matt’s local café and designing fabric from her home in the village. But then her friend Laura signs her up to the local Twelve Dates of Christmas campaign and it amounts to a sort of dating bootcamp – a quest the entire village of Blexford seems prepared to help her with, from the local pub landlord to the postman.
Over twelve dates she encounters the best and the worst traits of the male sex, with her childhood friends (and the whole village) keeping tabs.
Kate’s sure she doesn’t need a man. But maybe she’d quite like one.
The novel has also sold widely internationally, too, with North American rights selling to Margo Lipschulz at Penguin Random House / Putnam, Czech rights to Baronet, German rights to Goldmann and Dutch rights to Luitingh-Sitjhoff.
Jennifer live in a small seaside town in the UK with her husband; their children having left home for big adventures.
She went to university aged 39 to study part-time for a degree in Creative and Professional Writing, and for the last 7 years, Jennifer has been baking cakes for a coffee shop where she lives. Jennifer likes long walks, baking days and is obsessed with stationary. She doesn’t believe in saving things for best and shamelessly wears party dresses to the supermarket.
