Rossi Takes ‘Rebel Spy’ to Delacorte

Delacorte acquired Rebel Spy 355 by Veronica Rossi at auction, with Kate Sullivan nabbing North American rights. The publisher described the YA novel as “Hamilton meets Code Name Verity.” Rossi is the author of the bestselling YA series Under the Never Sky, and the new title explores, as Delacorte put it, “the imagined life of a young woman from history known only by the code number 355.” The publisher continued, “The mysterious 355 was a New York spy for George Washington during the Revolutionary War” and a crucial figure in a spy ring that “allegedly contributed to uncovering Benedict Arnold’s treachery.” The novel, which Tina Dubois at ICM Partners sold, is set for a fall 2019 release.

‘Sands’ Falls to Voyager

Harper Voyager’s David Pomerico took world rights to a novel titled Race the Sands by Sarah Beth Durst, in a two-book agreement. Andrea Somberg at Harvey Klinger represented the author, explaining that Sands is a standalone fantasy epic for adults in which two women fight to become champions of “their sun-soaked land’s most beloved sport, monster racing.” Sands is set for spring 2020, and the second book in the deal, which is currently untitled, is set for 2021.

Klune Re-ups at Tor for Six Figures

TJ Klune, who sold a YA trilogy to Tor Teen in March, has inked a fresh agreement with the publisher for another series. Ali Fisher took world English rights to the first title in the series, The House in the Cerulean Sea, and two others in a six-figure deal. Klune’s agent, Deidre Knight at the Deidre Knight Agency, said the queer contemporary fantasy follows “a by-the-books case worker in the Department in Charge of Magical Youth, who’s sent to investigate the caretaker of six children who are unlike anything the world has ever seen.”

Porter, Wilcox Get ‘Fearless’ at Graphix

For Scholastic’s Graphix imprint, David Saylor and Adam Rau bought world rights to Kenny Porter and Zach Wilcox’s graphic novel The Fearless Rider. Mark Gottlieb at Trident Media Group, who represented the pair, said the book is a “slice-of-life story with the tone and setting of a Miyazaki film.” In it, he went on, “a young girl and her pet ferret run away from home on their tricked-out bicycle on the first day of school.”

Pegasus Nabs Award-Winning Crime Novelist

Australian crime novelist Aoife Clifford sold North American rights to her novel Second Sight to Bowen Dunnan at Pegasus Books. Dunnan, an assistant editor at the publisher, said the book follows Eliza Carmody, a lawyer who “witnesses a murder in her small hometown that draws her into an investigation of a violent past she can no longer ignore.” Catherine Drayton at Inkwell Management, working on behalf of Clare Foster at Curtis Brown Australia, represented the author, who has won a number of literary awards, including the Scarlett Stiletto and the Ned Kelly Award. Second Sight will be published by Pegasus in summer 2019.

Briefs

Charles Spicer at St. Martin’s Press took North American rights to Laura Thompson’s Farewell to Venice: Nancy Mitford, Peggy Guggenheim, Cole Porter, Barbara Hutton; Art and Society During the Golden Years of the Twentieth Century. The book, SMP said, examines Venice in the first half of the 20th century, a city that “rivaled Paris or the South of France as the watering hole for artists, writers, and socialites.” After the Beistegui Ball in 1951, the publisher went on, the city’s status as a mecca for artists “disappeared like a fleeting dream.” Georgina Capel, who has an eponymous agency in the U.K., brokered the agreement with Spicer.

Callie Garnett at Bloomsbury bought North American rights to David Moloney’s debut, Barker House. Moloney, a former corrections officer, was represented by Alexa Stark at Trident Media Group. The publisher said the novel, which is slated for winter 2020, follows “the lives of nine guards inside and beyond the concrete walls of a New Hampshire jail as they grapple with addiction, loneliness, and regret.”