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Simon & Schuster UK has won the won the UK rights to two novels by journalist, director and television writer Caroline Kepnes.
The publisher has described the deal as a “major” acquisition for the company and foreign rights have also been sold in the US, France, Italy, Holland, Israel, Japan and Brazil through auction with additional deals being finalized in Sweden, Turkey and Hungary.
Kepnes has recently made her directorial debut with the short film "Miles Away", and has also written for the television shows "7th Heaven" and "The Secret Life of the American Teenager".
Jo Dickinson, publishing director of fiction at S&S, acquired the rights in a deal negotiated by Cathryn Summerhayes, on behalf of Jennifer Rudolph Walsh and Claudia Ballard at WME, and Josh Bank, Sara Shandler and Lanie Davis for Alloy Entertainment.
Set in New York City, YOU, the first book in the deal will tell the story of Joe Goldberg and his unrelenting obsession with a young woman named Beck, who he begins to stalk through Facebook and Twitter, knowing where she lives, what she does and how to make her fall for him. “Terrifying, insightful and darkly humorous, YOU is a gripping, page-turning novel about passion, voyeurism, and possession that will keep readers up at night, fearful of who might be watching,” S&S said.
Dickinson said: “YOU has the whole S&S UK team in its grip. It is irresistible in its treatment of obsession and voyeurism; gripping in its writing, style and pace. Joe is enticingly unreliable and unstable, but the most crucial thing is that he feels so familiar, he’s someone we could have met at university, or in a bookshop or online. Caroline is an incredibly exciting new talent in the field of psychological suspense.”
YOU will be published will be published later this year.