SRL signs ‘fierce, compelling, and utterly believable’ novel from Heather Child

In a shiny new country where popularity is prized above all else, can Tamsin – a shy tunnel engineer – resist its delights and outfox the narcissistic Governor to save her best friend from his cruel reality TV show, where the final really will be the end of her?

The People’s Republic of Love is set in a world in which celebrities and influencers have strung together a few private Caribbean islands to create their own country, where the person with the most followers on social media makes the rules (An Instagramocracy, if you will). Its about human friendship versus becoming a human TV channel with a flavour of Love Island (gone wrong).

“A chilling fable for the social media age – fierce, compelling and utterly believable.” – M R Carey

Heather Child is a Bristol-based author who grew up in the Midlands, her first two novels, Everything About You and The Undoing of Arlo Knott are high concept speculative fiction. Her award-winning short stories have appeared in various magazines and she is a mentor on the Word Space programme run by Literature Works.

Heather said, “I’m interested in both the draw of fame and how it can split a person in two. What happens when the self you’ve created for public display gets too powerful? In The People’s Republic of Love, celebrities and influencers have their own country – it was great fun to write. As someone interested in sustainability as well as storytelling, I’m so happy to be working with the world’s first climate-positive publisher.”

The People’s Republic of Love is set for release February 2026.