Feminist fiction drives big money at London book fair

Fierce bidding wars between publishers saw several big deals happen for politically charged novels at this year’s fair, as new books from Jeanette Winterson and Caitlin Moran were also revealed

• What will you be reading next year? A roundup of London book fair

From a distance, the only thing that separates Donald Trump from the fake-tan smeared impersonator posing at London book fair is that this one is holding a book. The Trump-a-like has been brought in by Penguin Random House to promote The President Is Missing, a thriller co-written by James Patterson and former US president Bill Clinton. Holding up a fake copy of the book – it isn’t due until June – in the middle of a fake Oval Office (complete with Russian dolls on the table and Diet Coke in the drinks globe), the similarities between Trump and his doppelganger stop at pout and paunch alone; everyone is pleased to see him, and stretch for selfies.

Clinton and Patterson’s thriller is possibly the starriest book at the fair, despite being announced months ago. But this publicity stunt is emblematic of the cash and publicity pizazz on display at London book fair each year. A lot of what we end up reading coming through the fair 18 months before, to be snapped up by publishers and eyed by film and TV studios for possible adaptations. And Trump-a-like aside, it seems politics was never far away from anyone’s mind this year, with many of the biggest deals going to feminist fiction: novels starring female leads, navigating dangerous worlds with agency, off the back of the huge success of the TV adaptation of The Handmaid’s Tale and conversations born of #TimesUp and #MeToo.

Publishers have room for one big debut, one literary book to win them a prize and everything else is genre

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