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Usborne has acquired a debut YA novel and an as-yet untitled second book by 26-year-old Holly Bourne, in the first deal for the Madeleine Milburn Literary, TV & Film Agency.
Usborne fiction director Rebecca Hill bought UK and Commonwealth rights, including Australia and New Zealand, in Soulmates, from Madeline Milburn, and described the title as "a YA novel about the power of first love with a world-ending twist". It will be published in autumn 2013.
It focuses on 17-year-old Poppy and Noah, residents of Middletown, who fall in love, but find their attraction moves time and space, causing lightning storms and a trail of destruction. Soon a secret international agency is on their tail, trying to separate them, and they are left with the choice between the end of the world and a life without love.
Hill said: "I'm so excited to welcome such a talented new voice to the Usborne list. Soulmates has a fearlessly fresh narrative, a hot-blooded romance to rival Bella and Edward, and a heroine with more effervescent cynicism than Caitlin Moran."
Milburn added the book has “enormous appeal internationally”, with German rights already sold to DTV.