NEWS


Frankfurt Book Fair 2019 The headlines


Looking ahead


In tomorrow’s edition of The Bookseller, Colson Whitehead speaks about his recent success


Chamberlain reaches the End of the Street with Pan Mac as author moves to Headline Author Diane Chamberlain is moving from Pan Macmillan to Headline Review, after editorial director Sherise Hobbs bought UK and Commonwealth rights to her latest novel from agent Peggy Boulos Smith, acting on behalf of Susan Ginsburg at US agency Writers House. The Dark End of the Street will be published in the UK in spring 2021. Chamberlain has released 30 novels since first being published in 1989. In the UK she has shifted 987,646 print books, for a value of £4.2m, through Nielsen BookScan’s TCM. Hobbs said: “Diane is a rare and exceptional storyteller who is beloved by readers around the world. Her rich, layered novels, laced with secrets, are reading group favourites. We are so proud to welcome her to Headline Review.”


ZOELLA WILL REUNITE WITH HER FORMER EDITOR


Sugg life: YouTuber Zoella teams up with McCulloch for top-secret novel YouTuber and bestselling novelist Zoe Sugg and YA author and editor Amy McCulloch are collaborating on a new YA fiction project for PRH Children’s. No details about the as-yet-unnamed book have been disclosed, other than that it will be published by Penguin in autumn 2020. Holly Harris, PRH Children’s editorial director, acquired world rights from Abigail Bergstrom at Gleam Futures, represent- ing Sugg; Juliet Mushens of CaskieMushens acted for McCulloch. Sugg, who has more than 16 million followers on social media channels, has earned £8.8m through BookScan UK with her Girl Online YA series. McCulloch edited the series while working at PRH; she later left to become a full-time writer. McCulloch’s latest titles are the Jinxed series (S&S UK).


Girl A to be HC’s major fiction launch of 2021


money début


Big


HarperCollins has triumphed in a nine-way auction for Girl A by slush- pile début author Abigail Dean, with


ABIGAIL DEAN’S SLUSH-PILE FIND HAS SOLD IN BIG-MONEY DEALS ACROSS THE WORLD


international rights sold in seven territories to date. The two-book deal, for a “major” six figures, was negotiated by Juliet Mushens at CaskieMushens. HarperFiction publisher Julia Wisdom acquired UK and Commonwealth (excluding Canada) rights, with exclusive European rights, in Girl A and The Conspiracies. North American rights to Girl A went to Viking in a seven-figure deal at an auction conducted by Jenny Bent on behalf of Mushens. The novel was pre-empted in France (JC Lates), Holland (HarperCollins NL), Italy (Einaudi) and Sweden (Forum) and sold at auction in Spain (Ediciones B) and Lithuania (Alma Litera), with an ongoing auction in Brazil and offers in Portugal and Israel. TV/


Stonex’s novel lights up FBF as Picador wins out


Picador has triumphed in an auction for an “unforgettable” first literary novel from Emma Stonex in a two- book deal, with rights being snapped up around the globe. Associate publisher Francesca Main acquired UK and Commonwealth rights to The Lamplighters from Madeleine Milburn at the Madeleine Milburn Agency, to publish as a super-lead in spring 2021. In the US, Viking’s Andrea Schulz


won the book at auction, while Canadian rights went to HarperCollins Canada; the novel has also sold in eight other territories. Milburn, whose first client was Stonex, said: “We have never seen so many bidders for a book. It’s a literary gem.”


06 16th October 2019 Inspired by real events, The


Lamplighters is the story of three lighthouse keepers who disappear from a remote rock miles from the Cornish coast. The door is locked from the inside, the clocks have stopped, and a table is laid for a meal not eaten. Twenty years later, the women they left behind tell their side of the story. Main said: “Emma writes beauti-


fully about the majesty of the sea and the powerful tides of loneliness and grief. The central mystery is utterly compelling, deepening and darkening as each lighthouse keeper’s secrets are revealed... It’s an unforgettable story of isolation, love, betrayal and obsession.” Stonex, a former editor who


has written nine books under the pseudonyms Sadie Pearse, Vanessa Greene and Abby Clements, said: “My bookshelves are packed with Picador titles and the chance to be published by this imprint is the stuff of dreams.”


film rights are being negotiated by Sally Willcox at Paradigm. Narrator Lex Gracie, a successful lawyer


living in New York, is beter known to the public as Girl A, “who escaped from a child- hood of abuse at the hands of religious fanatic parents, freeing her six siblings. When her mother dies in prison and leaves the siblings the family home, Lex can’t run from her past any longer,” reads the synopsis. Mushens, who turned down two six-figure


pre-empts, said: “I couldn’t bear to stop reading it, and emailed Abigail at 3 a.m., convinced this book was going to be a literary conversation-seter as well as a commercial juggernaut.” Girl A will be published in spring 2021 in hardback, supported by a “major” marketing and publicit campaign. Reporting Katie Mansfield


SAMPLE ARTWORK FROM PAM SMY’S FORTHCOMING TITLE THE HIDEAWAY


Smy’s graphic novel to launch illustrated kids’ list at Pavilion


Pavilion has scooped the long- awaited second graphic novel from Pam Smy, author and illustrator of Thornhill (David Fickling Books), and launched an illustrated fiction list for over-sevens. Children’s book publisher Neil Dunnicliffe acquired world, all-language rights for The Hideaway direct from the author. It will be published in September 2020. The book, aimed at Middle Grade readers and above, comprises two narratives which explore different aspects of the same event: one tells of runaway Billy McKena’s experience of hiding in an overgrown graveyard; the other explains the search for Billy. Dunnicliffe said: “Pam provides that rare combination of brilliant, gripping writing and stunning illustration, as shown so marvellously in Thornhill.” He said Smy’s art makes “every page a delight” and that the new Pavilion Children’s Books fiction list “will be publishing a select number of innovative illustrated fiction titles”.


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44