Two for Castillo and Colchie
Johanna Castillo at Atria won an auction for Felix J. Palma'sThe Map of Time via Thomas Colchie, who sold North American rights for six figures (in collaboration with Palma's principal agent, Antonia Kerrigan, on behalf of Algaida in Spain). Set in Victorian London with characters real and imagined, Palma's English-language debut features three intertwined plots, in which H.G. Wells is called upon to investigate incidents of time travel and save the lives of an aristocrat in love with a murdered prostitute from the past, a woman attempting to flee the strictures of society by searching for her lover somewhere in the future and Wells's own wife, who may have become a pawn in a plot to murder him as well as Henry James and Bram Stoker. The book was just published in Spain.
Castillo also bought Peter Prange'sThe Philosopher's Kiss in a world English deal with Colchie, working in collaboration with Roman Hocke on behalf of Droemer Knaur in Germany. This suspense novel, which has sold more than 500,000 copies in Germany, is set in the court of Madame de Pompadour and its opposing cafe society in 18th-century France, and centers around Diderot's ambivalent, adulterous passion for Sophie Volland, with whom he sets out to publish the church- and state-banned French encyclopedia.
Two for Jones
Hyperion's Barbara Jones beat two other bidders in an auction for Sarah Brokaw'sForty-Tude via Andrea Barzvi at ICM, who sold world rights. In her practice, therapist (and daughter of Tom) Brokaw has come to recognize five core values that characterize the women who navigate most successfully through midlife; the book will explain how any woman can foster them in herself. Hyperion's Voice imprint will publish in April 2010.
Jones also preempted Pat Brown'sThe Profiler via Jane Dystel, who sold world rights. Criminal profiler Brown, who has appeared on more than 1,000 television and radio programs providing crime commentary and forensic analysis, will describe her journey from homemaker to nationally recognized criminal profiler, a career that began when she suspected a man renting an apartment from her was a serial killer. Planned Voice pub date is 2010, and Bob Andelman will co-write.
War Crimes
George Andreou at Knopf has acquired U.S. rights to François Bizot'sFacing the Torturer; Susanna Lea made the sale. At once a personal essay, a historical and philosophical meditation, and an eyewitness account, the book will describe how in 1971 Bizot was held prisoner and later saved, by Comrade Duch, among the most infamous mass murderers alive today. The trial for Duch, charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity committed while he was a Khmer Rouge prison commander in Phnom Penh, has just begun.
Changing Tunes
Ecco's Matt Weiland has acquired Carrie Brownstein'sThe Sound of Where You Are in a North American rights deal with Jud Laghi at LJK Literary Management. Brownstein, founding member of the band Sleater-Kinney and author of NPR's Monitor Mix blog, will describe the dramatically changing dynamic between music fan and performer, from the birth of the iPod and the death of the record store to the emergence of the “you be the star” culture of American Idol and the ensuing dilution of rock “mystique.” Tentative pub date is early 2011.
The Briefing
Perigee senior editor Meg Leder won an auction for Janea Padilha'sBrazilian Sexy, a book of advice for women on life, love and being sexy, via Lynn Johnston, who sold world rights. Padilha is one of the seven Brazilian sisters who have introduced American women to Brazilian beauty techniques. Martha Frankel will co-write.
