As the Frankfurt Book Fair approaches, a debut novel by a British writer has emerged as one of the hottest books of the busy pre-fair season. Since being submitted on Friday, Halcyon by Katie Khan has already collected offers from seven countries, and deals have been closed with Italian publisher, Newton Compton and Heyne in Germany. Auctions in the U.K. and U.S. will occur next week.
The book is represented by Juliet Mushens of United Talent Agency UK, who describes the novel in her submission letter as "a love story set in space, with the pace of Gravity and the emotional heart of One Day."
Halcyon follows Carys and Max, a couple who have 90 minutes of air remaining as they struggle in space. The book is set in a utopian world: "After the inevitable self-destruction of the Middle East and USA, Europe has become a utopia and, every three years, the European population rotates into different multicultural communities, living as individuals responsible for their own actions."
Mushens previously represented the bestseller The Minaturist (Ecco Press), and notes that the author, who works in marketing at Paramount Pictures, is a graduate of the The Faber Academy Novel Writing Course, whose graduates include SJ Watson (Before I Go To Sleep) and Rachel Joyce (The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry).
