Frances to Kensington
In a North American rights deal, Alicia Condon at Kensington bought Michelle Frances’s The Girlfriend. The publisher, describing the work, said it is a “taut and wickedly twisted psychological thriller.” The book is also the debut novel from Frances, a development executive at the BBC. (U.K. rights to the book were sold to Pan Macmillan, and, at press time, foreign deals had been closed with publishers in five other countries. Additionally, film rights to the book have been optioned by the London-based Imaginarium Studios.) Elaborating on the novel, Kensington called it “The War of the Roses meets The Hand That Rocks the Cradle, via Patricia Highsmith.” Markus Hoffmann at Regal Hoffmann & Associates represented Frances.
Maker Goes “Clean” at Avery
Avery’s Lucia Watson, in a preempt, took world rights to Melissa Maker’s Clean My Space. The book, which is set for 2017, will be, Avery said, a guide to “hip cleaning” from the woman behind the popular vlog Clean My Space. Avery added that the book, which Stonesong’s Judy Linden sold, will touch on nontoxic ways to clean and is “packed with fast tricks, routines, and hacks for keeping a happy, healthy home.”
Bloomsbury Re-ups Pulley
In a joint deal, Lea Beresford at Bloomsbury USA and Alexa von Hirschberg at Bloomsbury UK nabbed world English rights to two new novels by Natasha Pulley. The author, whose next novel, The Bedlam Stacks, is being published by Bloomsbury in summer 2017, was represented by Jenny Savill at Andrew Nurnberg Associates. The first book in this deal will be a sequel to Pulley’s debut, 2015’s The Watchmaker of Filigree (which Bloomsbury also published); Watchmaker, as Bloomsbury explained, is about “a man who can remember the future.” The second book is a standalone about “changelings born with wings, the most dangerous deformity in 17th-century Christendom.”
Booker Finalist to Morrow
Kate Nintzel at William Morrow’s Custom House imprint took U.S. and open-market rights to a story collection and a novel by Sarah Hall. Both books are currently untitled. Hall, a two-time Man Booker finalist, is one of the remaining finalists for the not-yet-awarded 2015 James Tait Black prize. (The James Tait is among the oldest literary prizes in the U.K.) Morrow said the new novel explores the “startling connections between a series of characters seeking to control the natural world” and is “narrated by the wind.” Hall was represented by Clare Conville at Conville & Walsh.
Briefs
Lori Deschene’s Tiny Buddha’s Gratitude Journal was acquired in a world rights deal by Kathryn Renz Hamilton at HarperOne. A follow-up to Deschene’s 2015 book with HarperOne, Tiny Buddha’s 365 Tiny Love Challenges, this title will, the publisher said, “help readers foster gratitude in their lives, their relationships, and themselves.” Linda Konner, who has an eponymous shingle, represented Deschene, the founder of the popular online forum Tiny Buddha.
