Barley Closes Double for Flatiron
In the first of two deals, Sarah Dotts Barley at Flatiron Books bought North American rights, in a mid-six-figure preempt, to The Hazel Wood, Melissa Albert’s YA novel. The book, which is Albert’s debut, was sold by Faye Bender at the Book Group. The novel follows a 17-year-old named Alice who, Bender said, has “spent her whole life fleeing the long shadow of her grandmother’s cult collection of pitch-dark fairy tales.” When her mother is sucked into the world depicted in the books, Alice must venture into the fictional landscape to rescue her. Bender described the novel as “The Magicians for YA.”
In the second deal, Barley bought North American rights to Meredith Russo’s Birthday. A follow-up to If I Was Your Girl (which Flatiron published in May), the new book, the publisher said, follows two “vastly different” teenagers who become acquainted on their 13th birthday. The meeting between the two teens, who were born on the same day, sets in motion “a series of events that will shape who they are and who they’re destined to become.” Flatiron added that the book is told “through snapshots of eight different birthdays.” Alloy Entertainment’s Hayley Wagreich and Joelle Hobeika brokered the agreement with Barley.
B.A. Paris Re-ups at SMP
British-born, France-based author B.A. Paris signed a two-book deal with St. Martin’s Press. Paris’s debut, the psychological thriller Behind Closed Doors, was published by Mira in the U.K. in February and here, by SMP, in August. Per SMP, the book spent weeks on various bestseller lists, including Publishers Weekly’s. Her forthcoming book, Breakdown, is being released by SMP in June 2017. This deal is for North American rights, and SMP’s Jennifer Weis brokered it with Camilla Wray at Darley Anderson.
Siegel Takes ‘Accident’ at First Second
David Carlson and Landis Blair’s graphic novel, The Hunting Accident, was acquired by Mark Siegel at First Second. Siegel took world rights to the book from Judy Hansen at Hansen Literary. Based on a true story, the book follows a man sharing a jail cell with the infamous Nathan Leopold Jr., one half of the duo known as Leopold and Loeb. The man, First Second said, is uneducated and recently lost his eyesight but, in an unlikely twist, finds “salvation” behind bars.
Scout Press Re-ups Ferencik
Scout Press editor Kate Dresser nabbed world rights to Erica Ferencik’s sophomore effort, which is currently untitled. A thriller set in the Amazon, the book, which is tentatively scheduled for 2018, is, Scout said, about “a rough-and-tumble American girl who escapes the foster-care system by traveling to South America where she falls in love with a Peruvian man, following him to his remote jungle village where she constructs a family of her own for the first time.” Ferencik’s debut, The River at Night, is being published by Scout in January 2017. Erin Harris at Folio Literary Management represented Ferencik.
Kenyon Sells Trilogy to Tor
In a high-six-figure deal, Sherrilyn Kenyon sold a trilogy called the Founding Mothers to Linda Quinton at Tor/Forge. Robert Gottlieb at Trident Media Group represented Kenyon, selling North American rights to three books (and retaining audio rights). The series, which will be edited by Claire Eddy, is, Trident said, “styled in the tradition of [the musical] Hamilton” and explores “the lives of the most fascinating, influential, and yet little-known founding women/wives from early American history to the Revolutionary War.”
Warner Rehabs for Feminist Press
Feminist Press’s Jennifer Baumgardner took world English rights to a memoir by Vikki Warner called Tenemental. The book, which Cheryl Pientka at Jill Grinberg Literary Management sold, is subtitled Embracing Major Life Renovations as a Reluctant Landlady. It chronicles the author’s experience renovating a shabby three-family house in Providence, R.I., at age 27, during the peak of the subprime loan era. After using the house as a rental unit, the author, now 40, attempts to, Pientka said, “understand herself as a landlady in a world of landlords, what led her here, and the role home ownership plays in adulthood.”
Atria Nabs Lovering’s ‘The One’
In a world English rights preempt, Sarah Cantin at Atria bought Carola Lovering’s debut, The One. The Simon & Schuster imprint said the book features a double narrative, told from the point of view of a young woman and the “sociopathic guy she can’t get over.” The book, the publisher went on, “combines the campus setting and heartbreakingly real relationship of Prep with the voice of Luckiest Girl Alive and Diary of an Oxygen Thief.” Allison Hunter at Janklow & Nesbit represented the author.
Correction: An earlier version of this story noted that the two teens who share a birthday in the novel in Birthday are girls; one is a girl, and the other is a boy. Additionally, the U.S. pub date of B.A. Paris' Behind Closed Doors has been added to this article; originally only the book's U.K. pub date was included.
