Alexandra Pringle, global group editor-in-chief bought UK and Commonwealth rights (excluding Canada) in Putney from Caroline Dawnay at United Agents. It has also been sold to Jonathan Burnham at HarperCollins in the US and Lynn Henry at Knopf, Canada.

Putney is an “enthralling” novel about a bohemian family in 1970s London and the consequences of a taboo relationship.

Pringle said: “Not since Lolita and The Constant Nymph have I read a story that is as captivating as it is shocking. Surprising and challenging the reader at every turn, Putney promises to be one of the most talked about novels of next year.”

Burnham said: “Putney is a beguiling and thought-provoking journey that takes the reader from a place of doubt and fear to a world of eye-opening discoveries and new viewpoints. An incredible achievement.”

Zinovieff is the acclaimed author of three works of non-fiction, Eurydice Street: A Place in Athens (Granta), Red Princess: A Revolutionary Life (Granta) and The Mad Boy, Lord Berners, My Grandmother and Me (Jonathan Cape), a New York Times Editors’ Choice 2015, and one previous novel, The House on Paradise Street (Short Books).

Putney will be published by Bloomsbury in the UK in July 2018. It will be published by HarperCollins in the US in August 2018 and by Knopf in Canada in 2018.