Blog
A Good Find Indeed: Brigid Duffy Sells Debut Novel to Sourcebooks Landmark
by Writing Workshops Staff
13 hours ago
We love celebrating our talented alumni! Sometimes the best stories begin in the most inspiring places. For Brigid Duffy, a New York City creative director by day and fiction writer by night, one chapter of her journey to becoming a debut novelist was written in the heart of literary Paris.
In September 2023, Brigid joined novelist and editor Christine Pride's Fiction Workshop at Writing Workshops Paris, our annual destination retreat that brings together fiction, nonfiction, and poetry writers for an intensive week of workshops, craft seminars, one-on-one conferences, and deep discussions on the art and business of writing. Christine—a longtime Big Five publishing veteran who has held editorial posts at Doubleday, Broadway, Crown, Hyperion, and Simon & Schuster, and is the author of We Are Not Like Them, You Were Always Mine, and All the Men I've Loved Again—brought decades of insider expertise to the intimate workshop setting, where no more than ten writers gathered to sharpen their fiction manuscripts and their understanding of craft.
Brigid arrived in Paris as a writer with serious ambitions and the talent to match. She had already published fiction in Catapult magazine, and her creative instincts were honed by years of work in New York advertising, where she built a career as a Creative Director and brand strategist. But like so many writers who attend our destination retreats, she was looking for something that's hard to find on your own: focused time with expert instruction, honest feedback, and a community of fellow writers who take the work seriously.
We are thrilled to share that Brigid has sold her debut novel, A Good Find, to Shana Drehs at Sourcebooks Landmark, with publication set for 2027. The deal was brokered by Elizabeth Bewley at Sterling Lord Literistic, with world English rights. Szilvia Molnar at Sterling Lord Literistic is handling foreign rights.
A Good Find tells the story of a fiery septuagenarian widow who reinvents her life with a dating app romance just as she's taking stock of the antiques she's assembled over the years—coming to terms with her flawed marriage and messy motherhood. It's a premise that feels both fresh and deeply human: a woman in the later years of her life choosing to look forward rather than back, finding that love and self-discovery don't come with an expiration date. Sourcebooks Landmark, which has established itself as a home for compelling literary and book club fiction, is the perfect match for a novel that promises to be warm, witty, and full of heart.
We want to be clear that Brigid's success is her own. Selling a debut novel to a major publisher is the result of years of dedication, countless hours of writing and revision, and the courage to put your work into the world. We are simply honored to have been a small part of her writing journey. When a writer like Brigid chooses to spend a week with us in Paris, workshopping her fiction with an instructor as accomplished as Christine Pride and alongside a talented cohort of peers, it reminds us exactly why we do this work.
Congratulations, Brigid. We can't wait to read A Good Find when it hits shelves in 2027—and we have a feeling readers everywhere are going to love it.
Follow Brigid's journey on Instagram.
Brigid's story is a beautiful reminder that the right workshop at the right moment can be part of something extraordinary. If you're ready to take your writing seriously and find your own community of fellow writers and expert instructors, explore our online creative writing workshops and discover what's possible when you invest in your craft.
