PFD loses Evelyn Waugh estate

US agent Andrew Wylie has has snatched Evelyn Waugh's literary estate from PFD, the agency that handled it for the past 80 years, reports the Times.

According to the newspaper, "it is the ease with which Mr Wylie nabbed the Waugh estate that will really set tongues wagging in the build-up to the annual gossip-fest that is next month’s London Book Fair".

Apparently the Waughs were fed up with turmoil at PFD, which had represented the author since he wrote Decline and Fall in the late 1920s, and started seeking new representation.

"Andrew was just unbelievably quick," Alexander Waugh said. "No sooner had I said who I was and what I wanted than the telephone rang back. Andrew was very, very keen to do something with the Waugh estate."
The family had become alarmed by reports of problems at PFD and walk-outs by its agents.

PFD was quoted in the article: "We will continue to maintain good and open relations as we continue to manage the existing contracts."