Overview
During my time in-house at some of Canada’s foremost trade publishers, I prepared scores of titles for publication, collaborating closely with authors from acquisition (and often before) to hone and polish their work to a fine gleam, and then with the entire publishing team to help every book find its best audience. After many years I chose to shift to the freelance path so that I could concentrate on what I truly love -- digging deeply into a narrative, getting to know the characters, their challenges and environment, and working closely with the author to pinpoint what is not working yet, figuring out how to improve it, and generally make something good even better. I have worked with writers at all stages of their careers, and tailor my editorial services to each project according to the expectations of the author and the requirements of the text. Whether you are seeking a comprehensive big-picture assessment that proposes creative ways to build on your work's strengths and address its challenges or feel ready for a sensitive and thorough line-by-line edit that will enhance your distinctive voice and strengthen the weave of character, story, pace, diction, and more that creates a strong novel or work of narrative non-fiction, do be in touch -- we might make a great team. (Projects translated from the French are always welcome.) “I was extremely lucky in having Lara as my editor for two novels. I immediately sensed her respect for my vision of the novel and I grew to depend on her instincts, her experience, and her fine judgement. It’s a wonderful thing to feel that your editor cares as much as you do about getting it right.” -- Joan Thomas, award-winning author of FIVE WIVES, THE OPENING SKY, CURIOSITY, and READING BY LIGHTNING “Lara guided me through three novels with the uttermost patience, tact and perspicacity. Everybody should be so fortunate to have such a good editor.” -- Maureen Jennings, author of the bestselling MURDOCH MYSTERY series and the DETECTIVE INSPECTOR TOM TYLER series “Lara . . . is the best editor I’ve ever worked with, and I look forward to her help again with my next novel.” Kurt Palka, author of THE HOUR OF THE FOX, THE PIANO MAKER, and CLARA “Lara has the rare ability to read a manuscript, see the book an author wants to write and work with the author until the manuscript satisfies both the writer and the publisher. She’s terrific!” Gail Bowen, author of the JOANNE KILBOURN SHREVE mystery series
Services
Non-Fiction
Biographies & Memoirs
Fiction
Contemporary Fiction
Historical Fiction
Mystery & Crime
Psychological Thriller
Women's Fiction
Young Adult
Languages
English (CAN)
English (UK)
English (US)
Work experience
Self-employed
Oct, 2014 —
Present
Since the start of the freelance phase of my editing career in 2014 I have worked with publishers both large and small and with independent clients both seasoned and just beginning their creative journeys. I have loved continuing to edit authors I published while in-house (KURT PALKA, MAUREEN JENNINGS, and THOMAS TROFIMUK for example) as well as beginning new relationships. A few of the latter include the internationally bestselling author Eva Stachniak, (on the historical novel THE CHOSEN MAIDEN); Shane Peacock (on the YA gothic DARK MISSIONS OF EDGAR BRIM trilogy ); and Jay Hosking (on his mind-bending debut THREE YEARS WITH THE RAT). On the non-fiction side, I have worked with accomplished art professionals on the Art Canada Institute’s LIFE AND WORK online book series, including the volumes on LIONEL LEMOINE FITZGERALD, FRANCOISE SULLIVAN, and AGNES MARTIN.
Penguin Canada (Penguin Random House Canada)
Sep, 2017 —
Dec, 2018
(about 1 year)
In 2017/18 I pressed pause (mostly!) on my freelance business and went back in-house for a year and a bit at Penguin Canada. My acquisitions included new work from acclaimed Canadians novelists Karma Brown (the Number 1 national bestseller RECIPE FOR A PERFECT WIFE) and Nicole Lundrigan (HIDEAWAY) and international debuts from Jo Jakeman (STICKS AND STONES [UK]/THE EXES' REVENGE [CA/US]) and Hazel Prior (ELLIE AND THE HARPMAKER). I worked on the final editorial stages of Thea Lim’s Giller-prize shortlisted AN OCEAN OF MINUTES and was part of the stellar international team supporting Guy Gavriel Kay’s newest sweeping epic of an alternate past, A BRIGHTNESS LONG AGO.
McClelland & Stewart (Penguin Random House Canada)
Oct, 2007 —
Oct, 2014
(about 7 years)
I joined historic Canadian publisher McClelland and Stewart as Executive Editor in 2007. There I was involved with all aspects of acquiring, editing, and shepherding onto the public stage a wide range of works by acclaimed and bestselling Canadian and international writers. As always, the most satisfying part of my job was working intensively with my authors, from mystery masters such as Maureen Jennings and Gail Bowen to Canadian literary lights such as Joan Thomas (CURIOSITY; THE OPENING SKY) and Katrina Onstad (EVERYBODY HAS EVERYTHING) to international stars such as Sarah Waters (THE LITTLE STRANGER; THE PAYING GUESTS) and Tash Aw (MAP OF THE INVISIBLE WORLD) to bring their beautiful, thoughtful, exciting words and ideas to their fullest potential.
Doubleday Canada (Penguin Random House Canada)
Nov, 2003 —
Sep, 2007
(almost 4 years)
I began my career in trade publishing in 2003 at Doubleday Canada, where it was exciting to be involved with the beginnings of Doubleday’s international imprint, Bond Street Books, whose early lists featured debuts by Chris Cleave, Diana Evans, and David Wroblewski. On the domestic front, I acquired both fiction such as CONCEIT, Mary Novik’s award-winning novel of 17th-century London, and voice-driven narrative non-fiction such as Natalie MacLean’s acclaimed RED, WHITE, AND DRUNK ALL OVER: A WINE-SOAKED JOURNEY FROM GRAPE TO GLASS.
Portfolio
International bestselling author Guy Gavriel Kay's latest work is set in a world evoking early Renaissance Italy and offers an extraordinary cast of characters whose lives come together through destiny, love, and ambition. In a chamber overlooking the nighttim... read more
In this captivating dual narrative novel, a modern-day woman finds inspiration in hidden notes left by her home’s previous owner, a quintessential 1950s housewife. As she discovers remarkable parallels between this woman’s life and her own, it causes her to qu... read more
From Canada's premier author of historical mysteries, Maureen Jennings, comes the haunting fourth novel in the DI Tom Tyler series. Set in Britain during the darkest days of World War II, this is a must-read for fans of Foyle's War, Jacqueline Winspear's Maisi... read more
A man arrives at an insane asylum in contemporary Spain claiming to be the legendary navigator Christopher Columbus. Who he really is, and the events that led him to break with reality, lie at the center of this captivating, romantic, and stunningly written no... read more
The third and final book in a gripping Gothic YA trilogy, featuring monsters from classic literary tales, secret societies and the fight between good and evil.Having tracked the monstrous Godwin to the Arctic and barely escaped with their lives, Edgar Brim and... read more
The pulse-pounding second book in a gripping gothic trilogy, featuring monsters from classic literary tales, secret societies and the fight between good and evil.After vanquishing the terrible creature that stalked the aisles of the Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edgar... read more
The first in a gripping gothic trilogy from an acclaimed author, featuring monsters from classic literary tales, secret societies and the fight between good and evil.Edgar Brim is a sensitive orphan who, exposed to horror stories from his father as a young chi... read more
After three years of sipping, spitting, and slogging her way through bushy vine leaves and cellar cobwebs, award-winning writer Natalie MacLean takes readers behind the scenes of the international wine world, exploring its history, visiting its most evocative ... read more
This second thrilling novel featuring Laurence Beaumont, the seductive, sardonic protagonist introduced in The Best of Men, blends history and fiction in a seventeenth century alive with intrigue, passion, violence, and wit, from the embattled court of King Ch... read more
After years of unsuccessful attempts at conceiving a child, Ana and James become parents overnight, when a terrible accident makes them guardians to 2 ¿ year-old Finn. Suddenly, two people who were struggling to come to terms with childlessness are thrust into... read more
November, 1940. Tom Tyler, Detective Inspector of the small Shropshire town of Whitchurch, is a troubled man. The preceding summer had been a dark one for Britain, and even darker for Tom's own family and personal life. So he jumps at the opportunity to help o... read more
The New York Times bestselling novel that has been called “a tour de force” (Wall Street Journal), “unputdownable” (The Washington Post), “a delicious hothouse of a novel” (USA Today), “effortless” (The Economist), “seductive” (Vanity Fair) and “pitch perfect”... read more
"The #1 book of 2009...Several sleepless nights are guaranteed."—Stephen King, Entertainment Weekly One postwar summer in his home of rural Warwickshire, Dr. Faraday, the son of a maid who has built a life of quiet respectability as a country physician, is cal... read more
Against a teeming canvas of Borgia politics, Niccolò Machiavelli and Leonardo da Vinci come together to unmask an enigmatic serial killer, as we learn the secret history behind one of the most controversial works in the western canon, The Prince...When Pope Al... read more
Award-winning novelist Joan Thomas blends fact and fiction, passion and science in this stunning novel set in 19th-century Lyme Regis, England — the seaside town that is the setting of both The French Lieutenant's Woman and Jane Austen's Persuasion.More than 4... read more
The lush, sweeping story of a remarkable dancer who charts her own course through the tumultuous years of early twentieth-century Europe. Beautifully blending fiction with fact, The Chosen Maiden plunges readers into an artistic world upended by modernity, imm... read more
From the bestselling author of The Piano Maker comes a stunning, profoundly moving story about motherhood, grief, marriage, and friendship. For fans of M. L. Stedman's The Light Between Oceans.Margaret Bradley is the most senior associate at a prestigious law ... read more
The suspenseful, emotionally resonant, and utterly compelling story of what brings an enigmatic French woman to a small Canadian town in the 1930s, a woman who has found depths of strength in dark times and comes to discover sanctuary at last. For readers of T... read more
AN INDIE NEXT PICK! A “Best Book of 2018” —Real Simple “Lim’s steady prose and deft character development ensured that I was hooked on Polly’s story from beginning to end. [F]ull of fascinating social commentary on class differences, racism and sexism...it’s e... read more
"Former FBI agent Brigid Quinn, with her trademark toughness, raw humor, and human frailty, is back and better than ever in Masterman’s latest novel. As Quinn is drawn into an infamous cold case with a possible link to the two killers immortalized by Truman Ca... read more
"Authentic, disturbing and unbearably tense, Hideaway will leave you reeling." --Shari Lapena, #1 internationally bestselling author of The Couple Next DoorGloria Janes appears to be a doting suburban mother and loving wife. But beyond her canary-yellow door, ... read more
Lara has 4 reviews
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David D.
Jun, 2020
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Mar, 2020
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Dec, 2019
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Dec, 2019
