The Borough Press has plucked British rights to Dandelion is Dead by debut novelist Rosie Storey, with a trio of other territories snapped up in advance of Frankfurt Book Fair, along with a TV option.

Jo Thompson, commissioning editor at The Borough Press, acquired UK and Commonwealth rights from Jemima Forrester . There were pre-empts in North America (by Jen Monroe at Berkley), Italy (by Neri Pozza) and Germany (in an overnight bid by dtv). There was a further pre-empt from BAFTA, Emmy and Oscar-winning See-Saw Films—the production company behind streaming hits “Slow Horses” and “Heartstopper”—which acquired the rights to adapt the novel for TV.

The novel centres on Poppy who, six months after her older sister’s Dandelion’s death, is still numb with grief. Dandelion was impulsive and wild, always pushing Poppy to live more vibrantly, and so, when Poppy finds unanswered messages from a man called Jake on Dandelion’s old dating app, she replies. Poppy decides to meet up with Jake and they “have quite incredible chemistry and can’t wait to see each other again”.

Thompson said: “I fell immediately in love with Jake and Poppy. There’s an addictive, emotional power to Rosie Storey’s writing which allows her to be both deadly funny and quite heartbreaking. It’s a love story, but light balances against dark at every turn: boy meets girl, chemistry meets dishonesty, grief meets lust… For me, this is the perfect book for anyone who loves reading Meg Mason, Coco Mellors or Dolly Alderton.”

Storey is from the south of England and had a 15-year career in tech before leaving to try to finish her first novel. She lives in Hackney and currently works as a freelance copywriter and writing coach. She said: “Poppy and Jake are moving through a muddle of grief, desire, dating and delusion towards the truth of who they really are. I’ve spent more time in this fictional world over the past few years than I have in my own reality.”