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Karen Jennings is to make her US debut, with Holland House selling rights to her Booker Prize-longlisted novel An Island at auction.
The indie press has sold English language print and audio rights for North American territories to Jillian Buckley at Hogarth.
The novel is about a lighthouse keeper who encounters a stranger who washes ashore. Each trapped on an unnamed island for different reasons, in an illustration of the human consequences of colonial rule, regret, loss, and solitude.
The US auction was handled by Cecile Barendsma at Cecile B Literary on behalf of Agence Deborah Druba and Holland House Books UK.
Founder and senior editor Robert Peett has already sold rights to Text Publishing in Australia, and some foreign-language rights to countries including Greece, negotiated through Druba. Two further print runs have also been scheduled since Jennings made the 13-book longlist.
"Jillian and all the team at Hogarth had such evident understanding of and enthusiasm for Karen’s work that it was clear this is the perfect home for her," Peett said. "We are all very excited about working with them, and believe this will really help establish Karen as an important and significant writer. Hogarth has exciting plans to bring her to the attention of a wide public.
"It has been wonderful to see so much interest in the US and, indeed, all over the world. Text Publishing has brought an edition out in Australia and New Zealand, and a number of translations are already under way; Deborah Druba and Cecile Barendsma have been superb throughout for us."