Book News - A Change of Title
I’m just dropping by to let you all know that my debut novel The Call of the Void has had a change of title!
What’s In a Name?
I think lots of readers assume that the title a book has when it hits the shelves is the one it’s always had - certainly that’s what I used to think - but in reality, that’s almost never the case!
There are lots of reasons why a book title might change before publication, for example:
The existing title is too long or confusing
The title suggests the book is one kind of story or belonging in a certain genre, when it isn’t, which might be confusing or off-putting for readers
Cultural reasons - for example, if a book title doesn’t translate well to an audience in another country or another language
Titles can’t be copyrighted and so are frequently reused, but a publisher might want to change a book title if it’s exactly the same as another book that’s recently come out or is coming out before yours, particularly if it’s in the same genre or has other similarities.
So…Why the Change?
To be honest, I was kind of expecting my book title to be changed.
Originally, this novel was called Man & Wife, and that’s the title it was longlisted for The Women’s Prize Discoveries Prize and shortlisted for The Northern Writers Awards under.
It’s a book about a newlywed couple on their honeymoon, and so it made perfect sense to me that the title should be taken from their wedding vows, which also had special significance within the story.
However…I did sometimes wonder (and worry) if it sounded too romantic! Which, when you’re writing psychological suspense, is more of an issue than it sounds! I also learned that Tony Parsons had a very popular book called Man & Wife in the early 2000s, which, again, was very different to mine in genre and themes, and I began to think that my novel needed a more mysterious title, to allude to its hidden darkness and the tension between the pages.
So, part-way through writing my first draft, I changed the title myself to The Call of the Void.
This seemed like the perfect title to me, and on some level, will probably be what I’ll always think of it as (or rather TCOTV because I got tired of typing it out every time! Haha.)
I genuinely loved my title…BUT… even I had to admit that it only really makes sense after you’ve read the book. Which, of course, is no good when you’re trying to get readers to pick it up! So in the back of my mind, I had an inkling that, at some point, I’d probably be asked about changing it.
Still, The Call of the Void is the title my agent signed the book under, and is the title it went on submission to publishers with. And when it then sold, in a whirlwind pre-empt that I still can’t quite believe happened, The Call of the Void was the title used in the official Bookseller announcement. It also featured in the Frankfurt Agents’ Hotlist 2024 under the same title around the same time.
However, in my very first meeting with my editor, Christina, she asked how attached I was to the title, confirming what I’d suspected all along - that the title would likely change before publication!
Soon after, we started discussing other possible titles that might work better, and - crucially - give potential readers a clearer idea about what the book was about!
After lots of brainstorming and back and forth, we narrowed it down to two possibilities, and in the end, one won out…
So the title my debut novel will be published under is…(drum roll please!)...
The Honeymoon Suite
Yes, The Call of the Void is now The Honeymoon Suite.
And, honestly? I love it!
It took a while to grow on me, because, of course, I’ve been thinking of the story as The Call of the Void for so long. BUT, the more I talk about the book and tell people the title, the more I can see why The Honeymoon Suite is perfect, and what a brilliant job it does of getting across everything this book is about - glamour, thrill, intrigue, sunshine, and dark secrets, all on the glittering Amalfi Coast in the early 1960s.
I feel like The Honeymoon Suite really captures the heart of this book, which has lived in my own heart and head for so long now, and I really hope readers will love it too.
In other - incredibly exciting - news, The Honeymoon Suite is scheduled for publication in the UK on the 2nd of July 2026, and is available for pre-order now!
