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Witchcraft afoot as débutant Lowe seals six-figure deal... twice


WORDS Heloise Wood H ARPERFICTION HAS PRE-


EMPTED an “arresting” début entitled The Furies, and a second title, in a six-figure deal within 18 hours of submis- sion. Publishing director Natasha Bardon bought UK and Common- wealth rights (excluding Canada) to Katie Lowe’s novel from Juliet Mushens at CaskieMushens. Billed as The Secret History meets fantasy thriller “The Craſt”, Lowe’s novel was the subject of a second six-figure deal when Jen Weis at St Martin’s Press bought North Amer- ican rights at auction from Jenny Bent at The Bent Agency, on behalf of Mushens. Lowe pictured is an academic and the founder of the Fat Girl PhD blog, through which she writes about health, feminism and body image. Her novel was also pre-empted in Holland (Bruna),


well as her own grasp on realit. Bardon described the book as “an absolute triumph”, adding: “The writing is beautiful and the characters feel authentic and assured. I’ve been looking for a book in this area for a while, but never did I expect to be so uterly engrossed. There’s a rich and dark history of witchcraſt in [the UK] that is oſten forgoten in favour of Salem and the US—The Furies is the book to change that.” Mushens said of the novel:


Italy (Mondadori) and Finland (Gummerus), with offers in Spain and Poland. The Furies follows Violet, a girl who joins a private school located on the site of 17th-century witch trials. She is drawn into a group of girls who have a fascination with witchcraſt, but when a former pupil is found dead, Violet begins to doubt everyone around her as


“Teenage girls, obsessive friend- ship, murder and witchcraſt. What more could anyone want?” Lowe described her first book deal as a “surreal experience, and one I never would’ve dared imag- ine while at home writing at week- ends and in spare moments here and there. To have received such an amazing response—and so quickly—truly has been beyond my wildest dreams.”


Blink eyes a hit with Daltrey’s memoir


Blink Publishing has acquired the memoir of The Who frontman Roger Daltrey after a nine-way auction. Curtis Brown’s Jonny Geller sold world rights to Blink m.d. Ben Dunn; subsequently Henry Holt & Co’s Stephen Rubin bought North American rights from Kings Road Publishing senior rights manager Amelia Evans after another nine-way auction. Daltrey, 73, said: “It’s great that I’ve


found a young, enthusiastic publisher, an upstart in the world of books, to publish my story. It feels like the right


The Numbered is up for Headline and Gunnis


Headline has snapped up the début of the daughter of bestselling author Penny Vincenzi, a tale which “opens up a Pandora’s box of secrets and lies”. Associate publisher Sherise Hobbs bought world rights to Emily Gunnis’ The Numbered through agent Kate Barker in a “major pre-empt” on the eve of the fair. Headline will release the novel in autumn 2018. The story “combines mystery and suspense with a strong emotional core” as a journalist unearths a devastating leter from a Magdalene Sisters-esque


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fit. I’ve always resisted the urge to ‘do the memoir’ but I finally feel I have enough perspective. I’ve been lucky enough to live in interesting times— I’ve witnessed society, music and cul- ture change beyond recognition.” Dunn said Daltrey’s tale was


“engaging, funny and filled with amaz- ing anecdotes”. He said: “It’s the untold story of one of the last great rock legends and we’re so pleased that Roger has chosen Blink Publishing to help tell his fascinating tale.” The book will be published in autumn 2018.


mother and baby home among her grandmother’s possessions. Gunnis, who has previously worked in TV, said that while the issue of unwed mothers forced to give up their children has been much-discussed in Ireland—such as in Martin Sixsmith’s bestselling Philomena—the subject has rarely been tackled in the UK. She said: “I hope this heartfelt story provides a platform for people to talk about a subject that’s close to my heart: the forced adoption of hundreds of thou- sands of babies, the impact of which is still being felt.” Vincenzi, who is also published by Headline, is one the UK’s bestselling commercial women’s fiction authors, having earned £18.3m through Nielsen Book- Scan since records began in 1998.


Young’s memoir to begin Borough’s non-fiction


The Borough Press will publish novelist Louisa Young’s account of her relationship with her late fiancé, a “charismatic” com- poser and alcoholic, as its first frontlist non-fiction title. Suzie Dooré, publishing direc-


tor at the HarperCollins imprint, acquired world rights to You Left Early: A True Story of Love and Alcohol directly from Young pic- tured, who is unagented. It will be issued in hardback in June 2018, when Young’s music group, Birds of Britain, releases its début album, also called “You Left Early”. Robert Lockhart was a “bril- liant man” who died of a heart attack aged 52 in 2012 after bat- tling alcoholism. The book is described as “an impassioned and elegiac love story”. Young is the author of a number of nov- els, including First World War-set My Dear I Wanted to Tell You (HarperCollins).


Quercus wins battle for Ward’s Beautiful Bad


Quercus has won an auction to publish Beautiful Bad, and one further novel, by US screenwriter Annie Ward. UK and Common- wealth rights were bought at auction from Madeleine Milburn, with North American rights sold to HarperCollins imprint Park Row Books in a “major” six-fig- ure deal after a seven-way auc- tion. Translation rights have been pre-empted in multiple international territories. Beautiful Bad opens with


protagonist Madeline using writ- ing as therapy following a hor- rific camping accident. Her story takes the reader from the Bal- kans to England, Iraq to Manhat- tan, and finally to a family home in Kansas, where 16 years of love, adventure and suspicion culminate in The Day of the Kill- ing, when a terrified 911 caller summons the police to a blood- splattered house. Quercus will publish the title as a lead thriller in spring 2019.


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