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A novel set in 1840s London in which a serial killer known as The Birdman is on the loose, professor of genetics at University College London Steve Jones' "nuanced" take on science and religion, and a thriller described as "Joseph Conrad meets Jurassic Park", are just some of the books UK agents have in their lockers as they prepare for London Book Fair 2010. The Bookseller's rights preview rounds-up the key titles below:
Rogers, Coleridge & White has a number of titles currently on submission in the UK, including Solace by Irish Times journalist Belinda McKeon, which it described as "a meditation on empathy, responsibility and on the relationship between reality and truth-telling". The firm is also submitting for UK publishers An Agent of Convenience by Chris Morgan Jones, which centres around "part-detective, part-spy" Ben Webster as he attempts to resolve his guilt at the death of a journalist colleague when he worked in 1990s Russia. Meanwhile, Will Whitaker's historical novel The King's Diamond tells the story of a young and ambitious London diamond merchant, who plans to track down the most precious diamond in the world as a gift for King Henry VIII. Planned as a trilogy, HarperPress has UK rights for publication next spring.
In non-fiction, RCW is pitching The Serpent's Promise by Steve Jones, professor of genetics at University College London, as a look at the complexity behind science and religion that is "a more balanced and nuanced approach than that adopted by other more aggressive atheists". Little, Brown has UK rights, with delivery expected in January 2012. Meanwhile, Christianphobia: The Hidden Face of Religious Persecution by Rupert Shortt looks at the persecution of Christians in the modern world, and offers a new look at the West's role in the world, including Western inaction and selectivity in human rights issues. This is currently on submission in the UK.
At United Agents, Anna Webber is tipping A Book for All and None by Clare Morgan, for which she has an early offer in hand, with an auction planned. A literary début novel that establishes a link between Virginia Woolf and Friedrich Nietzsche, Webber said it would be one of her "hot titles" for the fair. Simon Trewin will be pushing The Pleasures of Men by Kate Williams—set in 1840s London in which serial killer The Birdman is on the loose. UK rights were pre-empted by Michael Joseph, and in Canada by HarperCollins, with US rights going to Hyperion at auction. Dutch rights have been sold to Mouria and Italian to Mondadori, with other auctions underway worldwide.
Also from UA, Jonathan Barnes' novel Fidelity is "provoking lots of interest in foreign markets". It has already been sold to Morrow in the US, and a UK submission is underway via James Gill. Robert Kirby singled out Young Sherlock Holmes as the "YA book of the fair", which is undergoing negotiations for eight translation rights deals; Macmillan controls translation rights. Sarah Ballard said she expects "much international interest" in Julian Barnes' Pulse, which she said was "a masterful new volume of short stories", his first in six years. Cape and Knopf (Canada and US) will publish next January.
Aitken Alexander highlighted In Office Hours by FT columnist Lucy Kellaway as "smart commercial fiction for working women". Deals have already been signed with Fig Tree in the UK and Grand Central in the US. The agency is also pushing début Who is Mr Satoshi? by Jonathan Lee, about a man thrown into "the urban maelstrom" of Tokyo where he attempts to find someone called Mr Satoshi to deliver a parcel left by his recently-deceased mother. Signed by Heinemann in the UK.
The Butterfly Cabinet by Bernie McGill, who won the Zoetrope: All-Story Short Fiction Contest in 2008, is another début from Aitken Alexander, told through the prison diaries of a mother accused of her daughter's murder and memories of a former nanny. Headline acquired UK rights, Dutch rights have been pre-empted by De Kern and an American auction was in place at time of press. "Cross-dressing romantic comedy" Going Pearshaped by Sam Scarlett was pre-empted by Blanvalet in Germany. The novel is about to go out in America and the agency is talking to UK publishers now.
Meanwhile, the agency picked three key non-fiction titles. Pandora's Seed by "explorer, geneticist, geographer and author" Spencer Wells will be published by Penguin Press in the UK and by Random House in America. Also published by Penguin in the UK is Lizzie Collingham's The Taste of War, a worldwide history which focuses on food "and in particular, the lack of it" during the Second World War. The Long Road Home by Ben Shephard looks at the aftermath of the Second World War and the creation of a new world order.
At Sheil Land, Piers Blofeld is taking two thrillers to the fair. Who Pays the Piper by Mackenzie Smith is a "stormingly good adventure", based on Smith's experiences in the SAS. The second, Ocean Diamond by Michael Woodman, is a maritime thriller set on board the world's biggest passenger ship. Woodman was first published as a teenager in the 1970s, but this is his first book in more than 30 years. As The Bookseller went to press, all rights were available, with Blofeld poised to submit manuscripts.
Carole Blake of Blake Friedmann is taking novels by her established authors Barbara Erskine, Sheila O'Flanagan, Michael White, Joseph O'Connor and Craig Russell.
At PFD, Michael Sissons is pitching the thriller Savage Blood by Alex Chance, described as "Joseph Conrad meets Jurassic Park". It will be published in the UK by Heinemann this September and has sold to De Boekerij in the Netherlands and Weltbild in Germany. Sissons is also submitting international rights to Louise Bagshawe's Desire, published by Headline this month. Caroline Michel will focus on I Think I Love You by Allison Pearson, with UK publication by Chatto & Windus this June. Translation rights are "selling fast, with deals currently under negotiation" the agency said.
From PFD's non-fiction selection, Michel highlighted Born Wild: The Extraordinary Story of One Man's Passion for Lions and for Africa by conservationist Tony Fitzjohn. UK rights have already sold to Viking, and Michel has just started submitting for translation rights. She is also pushing international rights to The Atlantic and Its Enemies: A Personal History of the Cold War by historian Norman Stone, having sold UK territories to Penguin and US to Basic Books. Michel is also looking to build on the deals struck for How the West Was Lost: Fifty Years of Economic Folly—And the Stark Choices Ahead by Dambisa Moyo. The book has already been signed by Allen Lane in the UK and Farrar, Straus & Giroux in the US, with Dutch rights gone to Contact, German to Piper, Italian to Rizzoli and Russian to Centrepolygraph.
At David Higham Associates, Anthony Goff is taking a first person début by Emma Henderson entitled Grace Williams Says it Loud. Goff has so far sold UK rights to Sceptre, but will be presenting all other rights at the fair. Likewise, the fair will be a first airing for non-fiction work Burying the Bones by Hilary Spurling, a biography of writer and missionary Pearl Buck. Profile is publishing this book in the UK in April.
Fiction pitches from Curtis Brown include The Ponzi by Felix Riley, which centres around Bernard Madoff's Ponzi fraud scheme. UK & Commonwealth rights have been sold to Penguin, but the agent is planning to sell the remaining territories at the fair. The agency is similarly pitching the début RSVP by Helen Warner—Simon & Schuster has UK rights. On behalf of Jane Gelfman at Gelfman Schneider Literary Agency, Curtis Brown will be selling rights to another début—Rivers of Gold by Adam Dunn—for which US rights have gone to Bloomsbury—and Spiral by Paul McEuen; Headline has UK rights, while Dial acquired US. Foreign sales so far include Scherz (Germany), Luitingh (Holland), Mondadori (Italy), Rebis (Poland), Matar (Israel), Instars Multimedia (Taiwan), Psichogios (Greece), Plaza & Janés (Spain). The Last Letter from Your Lover by Jojo Moyes, which Hodder has UK rights to, is also being taken to the fair.
Curtis Brown's Young Adult offerings include Flip by Martyn Bedford. UK and US rights were sold at auction, to Walker and Wendy Lamb respectively, and foreign sales comprise Doubleday (Canada), Mondadori (Italy), DTV (Germany), Gottmer (Holland), Tawan (Thailand).
The agent's non-fiction selection includes The Chocolate Wars by Deborah Cadbury—whose great-great-grandfather was the older brother of John Cadbury, who founded the first cocoa shop. So far Curtis Brown has sold UK rights to HarperPress, US to Public Affairs, and Canadian to Douglas & McIntyre. Finally, the firm is pitching What's Your Problem? by S P Hinduja—so far only sold to HarperCollins India.
David Godwin Associates is pitching Fatima Bhutto's Songs of Blood and Sword as a big book of the fair. Jonathan Cape has UK rights, with US, French and Italian rights also sold, and the rest expected to go at the fair. The agent is also tipping historian Barbara Taylor's The Hurt Imagination. All rights were available at time of press although it had been submitted to UK and US publishers. Finally, the team will be pushing Alan Warner's follow up to The Sopranos, entitled The Stars in the Bright Sky.