Martha Perotto-Wills is a literary agent with The Bent Agency. She says: “I assist Molly Ker Hawn in the Bent AgencyÕs London office and am building my own list, representing authors of adult literary fiction and sci-fi/fantasy/horror, as well as select adult non-fiction and middle-grade and young adult fiction.

I grew up in Deptford, southeast London. After finishing my BA in History at Cambridge University, I spent a few years as a bookseller and cataloguer in the wild world of second-hand, rare, and antiquarian books. I did my MA in Queer History at Goldsmiths College, where I researched queer-coding in 1920s fashion journalism. I joined the Bent Agency in 2019.

I read pretty omnivorously, but across all genres I particularly enjoy: authorial confidence; unexpected, singular narrative voices; good, stylish sentences; humour/wit; knotty interpersonal relationships; and transportive writing that immerses me in a fully-formed world, whether fantastical, geographical, or emotional.

A random selection of old and new favourites: Shirley Jackson, Patricia HighsmithÕs Ripley novels, Confessions of the Fox, Diana Souhami, Tamora Pierce, LOTE, The Worst Journey in the World, Tamsyn Muir, Eve Babitz, Dusty Answer, Julia Armfield, Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl, Happy All the Time, Hilary Mantel, Sybille Bedford, His Dark Materials, Less, Michelle Tea’s Black Wave, Dorothy L Sayers, Alexander Chee’s The Queen of the Night, The Secret History, Susanna Clarke, Michelle Paver, Pamela Dean’s Tam Lin, The Once and Future King, etcÉ”