Rachel began her publishing career in 2016 at Avon books, a division of HarperCollins, shortly after completing a Master of Studies in English and American Literature at the University of Oxford. Rachel then moved to Hachette’s Quercus books, where she stayed for over three years, firstly as an Editorial Assistant and, latterly, Assistant Editor.
Rachel worked on both reading group titles and the crime and thriller list, assisting on multiple Sunday Times bestsellers such as The Flatshare and The Girl Before. Her first acquisition, Still Lives, a literary thriller, was chosen for the Reese Witherspoon Hello Sunshine book club. In May 2020, Rachel was appointed Commissioning Editor at Trapeze, an imprint of Orion, with a remit of acquiring conversation-starting novels, focusing on upmarket fiction and literary-commercial crossover.
Her authors included: Chloë Ashby, an art and culture journalist; award-winning writer Neel Patel; Sascha Rothchild, executive producer of The Bold Type; and Annie Lord, Vogue’s dating columnist. In her final months at Orion, Rachel also looked after Trapeze’s biggest commercial crime brands, including Sunday Times bestseller, Sharon Bolton.
She is interested in book club/reading group fiction, historical fiction, crime and thrillers, with some of her recent favourites being Sorrow and Bliss, Such a Fun Age, The Girls, The Song of Achilles and My Sister the Serial Killer.
Rachel is looking to build a diverse list of authors in her role as Associate Agent at Mushens Entertainment, and would love to see more submissions from Asian Women.