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Chatto double from Tillyard

Chatto has paid a "handsome" six-figure sum for two commercial historical novels by historian Stella Tillyard. Alison Samuel and Jenny Uglow at Chatto, with Rachel Cugnoni at Vintage, saw off com­petition from HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster to acquire UK and Commonwealth rights in the books from Gill Coleridge at RCW.

The author's fiction début opens in 1812 and tells the story of the Peninsular War and Wellington’s campaigns through the lives of two women. It will be published in spring 2010. Samuel said: "Stella has always had a ­novelist’s genius for narrative and dramatic tension in her non-fiction so this is a natural and wonderful progression for her."

Tillyard's move follows those of fellow historians Alison Weir and Katie Hickman, who have also recently turned to writing historical fiction.

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