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Jenny Oliver has signed a six-figure deal with HQ for three books.
The HarperCollins imprint's publishing director Kate Mills bought world English language rights from agent Becky Ritchie at AM Heath.
Oliver’s most recent book with HQ, The Summerhouse by the Sea, stayed in the Kindle Top 10 for six weeks this summer according to the publisher while her next book, The House We Called Home, will be published by HQ in June 2018. It follows one family brought together at their beautiful but remote childhood home in Cornwall when their father, Graham, goes missing. His marriage with Patricia has always been the subject of high praise, reads the blurb, "but no family is as perfect as it seems" and over one summer the Whitethorns lay bare their secrets.
The second and third books in the deal have been described as being in "the same vein" as The House We Called Home" featuring "contemporary, fresh, feel-good fiction".
Mills said: “One of the really exciting things about HQ is being able to grow authors who’ve had terrific digital sales in print. Jenny was a runaway bestseller over the summer on Amazon – she was immovable from the Top 10 for weeks – and it’s easy to see why. She’s a delight to read – funny, warm and touching on so many things that readers recognise and respond to.
She added: "It’s impossible not to fall in love with her characters and settings, and we’ve got a lot to look forward to.”
Ritchie praised the author’s “wonderful, escapist storytelling”. She said: “HQ has done a fantastic job of building Jenny Oliver and I can’t wait for more readers to discover her with next summer’s The House We Called Home and beyond. With her wonderful, escapist storytelling and HQ’s dynamic publishing I know she’ll fast become a major brand author in women’s commercial fiction.”
Oliver, who previously worked in publishing and lives in south west London, said: “The HQ team is fantastic to work with – creative and passionate while also sharply focused on building authors' careers. They’ve done an amazing job with my books so far and have exciting plans for the future. I couldn’t be happier than to have recontracted with Kate and the team.”