Oh, Sugar
‘A rollicking adventure story with a glorious, Bondesque glamour… Gloria Fontaine is the thinking woman’s James Bond. Left me totally wanting to be a spy!’
— Anne Hamilton, author of The Almost Truth
When disgraced journalist Dolly Fontaine discovers that her mother, the seventies film star Gloria Fontaine, was a spy recruited by the British Intelligence Services to ensnare a ruthless Lusenkan dictator, past and present collide with dangerous consequences
In the wake of a political scandal that shatters her high-flying career, journalist Dolly Fontaine seeks refuge at her childhood home, Genévrier, where her mysterious mother, the celebrated seventies film star, Gloria Fontaine, lived for decades.
When Dolly discovers a dusty box of cassette tapes in the attic revealing Gloria’s most compelling, real-life role — a daring undercover mission as a British spy to her birth country of Lusenka — so begins a perilous journey involving diamonds, Cold War intrigue, and a merciless dictator. Can Gloria’s voice recordings, and an enigmatic, retired spook once known as Sunstar, help Dolly uncover the truth before a deadly adversary silences her forever?
Oh, Sugar spans two generations, taking the reader from 21st-century Cornwall to a fictional 1970s dictatorship.
Longlisted for the Santa Fé Writers’ Project Literary Prize 2022
Jane Labous
Jane Labous is an award-winning author, BBC journalist and broadcaster known for her frontline coverage of human rights and gender issues, always telling the powerful human stories behind the headlines. Her debut novel, The Chameleon Girl, is published in Nigeria by Lagos-based publisher, Farafina Books.
Jane read English & French at Jesus College, Oxford, before working for the UK and international press and INGOs, most often out of Dakar, Senegal. This while developing her creative art as a writer, filmmaker and novelist, drawing on her insider knowledge of the aid sector and foreign journalism, and her unique experience of both expat and local family life in Ngor, Dakar.
Jane’s credits span a vista of international outlets, including The Independent, Voice of America, Geographical, The LA Times, BBC Africa and BBC Radio 4’s From Our Own Correspondent. She has also worked as a writer and filmmaker for aid/humanitarian agencies including the UN, the World Health Organisation, Save The Children, and Amnesty International. She has won the BBC Radio 4 and Royal Geographical Society Documentary Award, the Merck More than a Mother Media Recognition & Film Award for Francophone African Countries, and a European Journalism Centre Development Reporting Grant. Her fiction has been longlisted for the Bath Novel Prize and the Santa Fé Writers’ Project Literary Award.
As a devoted single parent, Jane often writes stories, characters and locations to honour her daughter, who is half-Senegalese, reflecting their diverse family experience. Together, they love long walks, picnics and adventures in the sea air, gardening, painting, and lots and lots of reading…
Publications & Prizes:
-The Chameleon Girl (Farafina Books, 2022)
-The Bath Novel Prize 2022: Longlisted.
-The Santa Fé Writers Project Literary Award 2022: Longlisted.
-Fiction Factory First Chapter Award 2021: Longlisted.
-BBC Radio 4 and Royal Geographical Society Journey of a Lifetime Award: Award Winner (for The Sand Diggers of Mali).
-Southampton Film Festival: Best Documentary (for You Are Not Alone).
-Merck More Than A Mother Media Recognition & Film Award for Francophone Africa: Award Winner (for You Are Not Alone & Angels).
-One World Media Award: Longlisted (for Cinderellas).
-European Journalism Centre Development Reporting Grant: Award Winner (for Angels).
-Guardian Development Journalism Prize: Award Winner
