MCD/FSG Nabs Debut Thriller by Yaddo Fellow
Daphne Durham of MCD/FSG secured world rights to Cipher, a debut novel by Katrina Carrasco, a Yaddo fellow, in a two-book deal brokered by Stacia Decker of Dunlow, Carlson, & Lerner. According to Decker, the novel centers on a detective named Alma who “infiltrates a Washington Territory opium smuggling ring while disguised as a man.” Once she’s insinuated herself, “Alma must create an ever-more-elaborate series of alibis while sending coded dispatches to the Pinkertons,” as well as “managing her physical attraction to Delphine, the head of the smuggling ring, and Wheeler, the local boss,” says Decker. The book is set to be published in summer 2018 .
Bestler Takes Second Novel by Poeppel
In a two-book deal, Linda Chester of the Linda Chester Literary Agency sold world rights to Limelight, the second novel by Amy Poeppel, to Emily Bestler’s eponymous imprint at Atria Books. According to Chester, the novel bears comparison to “Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney’s The Nest and Liane Moriarty’s emotionally resonant page-turners,” telling a “gloriously entertaining story about city life, midlife, and the absurdities of fame.” Poeppel’s previous book, Small Admissions, chronicled the loves and friendships of a young admissions counselor at an elite private school in New York. Limelight is expected to be published in summer 2018.
Reston Brings Vietnam War Memorial History to Arcade
Carl Barksdale of Arcade purchased world rights to historian James Reston Jr.’s A Rift in the Earth: Maya Lin, Frederick Hart, and the Art War Over Vietnam Memory, in a deal brokered by Markus Hoffman of Regal Hoffman & Associates. According to Hoffman, the book will tell the “remarkable story of the competition for the official Vietnam War Memorial—the biggest competition for a public work of art in American history—and the bitter controversy that ensued over the winning design by Maya Lin, then a young Asian-American architecture student at Yale.” Reston Jr. has previously written books on Richard Nixon (The Conviction of Richard Nixon) and Galileo (Galileo: A Life). Arcade is set to publish A Rift in the Earth as a lead title this fall.
Orbit Buys Two Books in Victorian Paranormal Series
In a six-figure deal, Kristin Nelson of Nelson Literary Agency sold North American rights to two new books in Gail Carriger’s Custard Protocol series to Lindsey Hall of Orbit. The series, which is set in the Victorian era, centers on a young woman named Prudence, who, with a cadre of friends, rides a dirigible around various parts of the British Empire, exploring its sordid and supernatural elements (the books feature werewolves and vampires). The first two books in the series, which is a spin-off of the author’s Parasol Protectorate series, are Prudence and Imprudence. Orbit plans to publish the first book in this deal, the series’s third, sometime in 2018.
Woods Brings Two Books to Mira
Margaret Marbury of Mira Books acquired world rights (except Japanese) to two books by Sherryl Woods in a six-figure deal negotiated by Denise Marcil of the Denise Marcil Literary Agency. One book, Lilac Lane, is a new installment in the author’s Chesapeake Shores series, which, according to the publisher, is the “basis for Hallmark Channel’s most successful TV series.” The other, Small Town Love Story: Colonial Beach, VA, is a nonfiction companion title to the Chesapeake Shores series that will touch on “the real-life inspiration behind many of [Woods’s] books.” The publisher adds that the Chesapeake Shores novels “explore the themes of love and forgiveness and capture the struggles of the O’Briens, a large Irish-American family trying to make peace with their complicated past in a small, picturesque bayside community.” Both books are slated to be published in October 2017.
Force Brings Six Series Titles to Kensington
Kensington Publishing CEO Steve Zacharius bought mass market rights to the first six books in romance author Marie Force’s Gansett Island series. All six books were previously self-published by the author in digital format. According to Kensington, the series is set on a fictional version of Block Island, in Rhode Island, and tells of the “lives and loves of the McCarthy family and their friends.” The publisher adds that Force’s books have sold more than 5.5 million units worldwide. The mass market paperbacks are set to begin to be released in summer 2018.
