DEAL OF THE WEEK
McManus Re-ups at Delacorte
In a seven-figure deal, Delacorte Press’s Krista Marino bought North American rights to two YA thrillers by Karen M. McManus. One will be the final entry in the trilogy launched by McManus’s bestseller One of Us Is Lying. The second book in the deal is a standalone thriller. The titles are slated for summer 2023 and summer 2024, respectively. McManus was represented by Rosemary Stimola and Allison Remcheck at Stimola Literary Studio.
FROM THE U.S.
Knopf Falls Under Adebayo’s ‘Spell’
Ayobami Adebayo sold A Spell of Good Things to Knopf, which also published her lauded 2017 debut, Stay with Me. Jennifer Jackson acquired North American rights to the title from Kathy Robbins at the Robbins Office. The book follows Eniola, a tailor’s apprentice in Nigeria, and Wuraola, a young doctor and the daughter of the shop’s most important customer. “When Eniola is caught up in a web of decisions that conflicts with the local political forces,” Knopf said, “the fates of the two [characters’] families become entwined.” The author was a finalist for the Women’s Prize for Fiction for Stay with Me.
Random House Nabs Odenkirk Memoir
Actor Bob Odenkirk sold North American rights to Comedy Comedy Comedy Drama: A Memoir to Random House’s Ben Greenberg. William Morris Endeavor, Odenkirk-Provissiero, and Ziffren-Brittenham brokered the deal. The memoir, set for January 2022, will, RH said, see Odenkirk open up about his “legendary cult status as a comedian, and about what it’s like to reinvent a showbiz career after 50.”
Shin’s ‘Father’ Joins Astra House Family
For Astra House, Alessandra Bastagli preempted North American rights to South Korean author Kyung-Sook Shin’s new novel, I Went to See My Father. The publisher said Shin’s 2011 international bestseller Please Look After Mom sold more than two million copies in South Korea alone. I Went to See My Father continues the family saga begun in that book. “Whereas Please Look After Mom is a very contained, personal story of a mother,” Astra House said, “I Went to See My Father is more ambitious, with an epic sweep—not just about one man but about war and sacrifice, wrapped in a story about a father.” Anton Hur is translating the book, which is slated for January 2023. Shin was represented by Barbara J. Zitwer, who has an eponymous shingle.
HMH Builds a Castle in Howey’s ‘Sand’
Jamie Levine at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt acquired North American rights to Across the Sand, the first full-length novel in five years by Hugh Howey. The bestselling author was represented by Kristin Nelson at Nelson Literary Agency. Across the Sand is a sequel to Howey’s 2014 postapocalyptic novel Sand and follows a young woman seeking revenge. Nelson said that “after the detonation of an old world nuclear bomb destroys her home, the woman plans to wipe out the hardscrabble settlements across the border, only to discover that injustices run deep everywhere.” Across the Sand is set for fall 2022.
Poston’s ‘Romantics’ Woo Berkley
Amanda Bergeron at Berkley preempted world English rights to Ashley Poston’s adult fiction debut. The publisher said The Dead Romantics was “pitched as Ghost meets The Bold Type” and follows “a disillusioned millennial romance novel ghostwriter, who returns to her family’s funeral home after her father passes away and comes face-to-face with the ghost of everything she’d been running from—literally, in the form of her very attractive new editor.” Holly Root at Root Literary represented Poston in the deal. The Dead Romantics is set for summer 2022.
