Tuesday, 19 August 2025 Books+Publishing @booksandpublishing
Harlequin Australia (HQ), a division of HarperCollins, has acquired world rights to The Sisters of Serendib by Ayesha Inoon, via Rochelle Fernandez at Alex Adsett Literary.
‘In 1990, a boat of asylum seekers leaves war-torn Sri Lanka, bound for Australia. When a mother dies at sea, her three young daughters are separated – illegally adopted by strangers and scattered across the country,’ said the publisher.
‘Years later, only the eldest, Janu, still remembers the home she left and the sisters she’s lost and begins the quest to bring them together. But they all face the question: can something broken for so long ever be made whole again?’
Colombo-born Inoon is a Sri Lankan–Australian writer who worked as a journalist in Sri Lanka before immigrating to Australia in 2013. She now works in communications in the Australian Public Service.
Inoon’s debut novel, Untethered (also HQ), won the 2022 ASA/HQ Commercial Fiction Prize and was highly commended for the 2024 ACT Book of the Year Award.
She said, ‘[The Sisters of Serendib] is a story about the ties of family stretched across time and distance, the search for identity, and the strength it takes to reclaim your story. I hope it speaks to anyone who has ever longed to find their way home, to themselves, or to each other.’
Publisher Rachael Donovan said, ‘In her newest work, Ayesha’s incredibly warm but unflinching observations on society return, along with the lightest touch of magical realism. Seeking out stories from among the community to enrich her own lived experience of immigrating to a new country, Ayesha breathes life into stories that will resonate with so many women.’
HQ plans to publish The Sisters of Serendib in June 2026.
Photo credit: Mel Hill Photography.
Category: Local news Rights and acquisitions