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Hodder & Stoughton has acquired two new novels from Chrissie Manby, one of which is an e-novella.
Emily Kitchin negotiated the deal with Laetitia Rutherford at Watson, Little.
A Fairy Tale for Christmas, due to be published in November, will be a festive novel set in Devon revolving around a pantomime production of Cinderella. Amidst the glitter and tinsel, however, long-running rivalries and back-stage mishaps threaten to derail it, and an unexpected love triangle between Cinderella, the panto’s director, and Buttons emerges.
Falling Leaves and Fireworks will be published in October as an e-book. The "seasonal e-novella" is a spin-off from the author's Proper Family series, and an as-yet-untitled standalone novel.
Commissioning editor Emily Kitchin said: "Chrissie is an utterly wonderful writer and her books have it all: real heart, lots of humour, a cast of eclectic, lovable characters and, in the case of her Christmas novels, plenty of festive cheer. Her writing is the very definition of feel-good fiction. We feel extremely lucky to have been publishing Chrissie for nearly twenty years, and we’re incredibly excited about swinging our publication plans for her new novels into action."
Hodder first published Manby in 1997 with her debut, Flatmates. Manby writes under her own name and the pseudonyms Olivia Darling, Stella Knightley and Stephanie Ash. She is published in 15 countries and the author of 32 novels. In July 2016, she will be teaching a creative writing course at the Arvon Foundation.
Picture: Michael Pilkington