DEAL OF THE WEEK
Brown Exposes the Crown for Crown
At Random House’s Crown imprint, Gillian Blake bought U.S. rights to Tina Brown’s The Palace Papers. The publisher said the book, subtitled Inside the House of Windsor—the Truth and the Turmoil, is set to be published Apr. 12, 2022, and will detail how “the monarchy reinvented itself after the traumatic years when Diana’s blazing celebrity ripped through the House of Windsor like a comet.” Continuing the examination that Brown, a founder of the Daily Beast and former editor of the New Yorker, began in 2007’s The Diana Chronicles, The Palace Papers is “full of powerful revelations, nuanced details, and searing insights” and will “irrevocably change the way readers perceive and understand the Royal Family.” Blake is set to coedit the book with Ben Brusey, publishing director at Century, a division of Penguin Random House UK, which will release it simultaneously. Eric Simonoff at William Morris Endeavor represented Brown in the deal.
Tor Invests in Self-Published ‘Six’
In a U.S. rights agreement, Tor bought Olivie Blake’s The Atlas Six and two other novels. The planned trilogy was sold by Molly McGhee via Amelia Appel at Triada US Literary Agency. The Atlas Six was self-published in 2020 and went on, Tor said, to become a bestseller at numerous online retailers. The book features “magicians vying to join a secret society” and asks “at what cost does knowledge come?” McGhee compared it to Donna Tartt’s The Secret History. The e-book edition of The Atlas Six is now available from Tor, and a revised edition will become available in both e-book and hardcover in March 2022. Blake is one of the pen names of Alexene Farol Follmuth, who has written a number of SFF projects; her YA book My Mechanical Romance, written under her real name, will be published by Holiday House in May 2022.
Carroll’s ‘IRA Plot’ Unravels at Putnam
Mark Tavani at Putnam bought North American rights to Rory Carroll’s There Will Be Fire, after what the publisher said was a “competitive auction.” The book, subtitled The IRA Plot to Kill Margaret Thatcher and the Hunt for the Bomber, is set for 2023. Carroll, a reporter for the Guardian, was represented by Will Lippincott at Aevitas Creative Management. According to Putnam, There Will Be Fire is the first in-depth examination of the 1984 IRA bombing in Brighton that threatened the life of then–prime minister Margaret Thatcher and “led to one of the greatest manhunts in British history.” It will detail “how the incident altered the course of two nations.” Foreign rights to the book have sold to publishers in, among other countries, the U.K. and Spain.
Medie’s ‘Nightbloom’ Lights Up Algonquin
Ghanaian author Peace Adzo Medie sold Nightbloom to Algonquin’s Kathy Pories. The world rights agreement was brokered by Kiele Raymond at Thompson Literary. The novel follows two girls from Ghana who, the publisher said, “grow up to lead very different lives an ocean apart,” until a family crisis reunites them 20 years later. Nightbloom, Algonquin added, “attests to the strength of female bonds.” Medie’s debut novel, His Only Wife, was a Reese Book Club Pick and a New York Times Notable Book of the Year.
Dial Goes ‘Dark’ with Schuster
Glow in the F*cking Dark, a mix of memoir and self-help by Tara Schuster, was acquired in a world rights agreement by Annie Chagnot at the Dial Press. Monika Verma at Levine Greenberg Rostan represented the author. Dial said the title “inspires readers to heal their pasts, get off the ‘good enough’ plateau, and light up their souls so that they can radiate strength and certainty even in the worst of circumstances.” Schuster (Buy Yourself F*cking Lilies) is a former executive at Comedy Central.
Atria Visits Hays’s ‘Cloisters’
Atria Books bought world rights to The Cloisters by Katy Hays and said it plans on making the novel its lead title for spring 2023. Natalie Hallak preempted the book, in her first acquisition for the Simon & Schuster imprint, from Sarah Phair at Sanford J. Greenburger Associates. The Cloisters follows a woman who joins a group of researchers at the Cloisters (the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s satellite in Upper Manhattan that focuses on medieval art) and is drawn into a mystery after one of her colleagues turns up dead. Atria said the debut was pitched as “The Maidens meets Ninth House” and called it “a propulsive tale of toxic obsession, the lethal effects of unbridled ambition, and the echoing consequences of the choices we make.” Hays was previously a PhD candidate in art history at UC Berkeley.
Robin’s ‘Stars’ Shine at Orbit
At Orbit, Angeline Rodriguez bought world English rights to Emery Robin’s The Stars Undying from Fox Literary’s Isabel Kaufman. The publisher said the debut novel, which is slated for fall 2022, is “a space opera inspired by the lives of Cleopatra, Julius Caesar, and Mark Antony.” In it, a princess must choose between “an ambitious commander (and his beautiful and volatile lieutenant) and the wishes of the god—or machine—that whispers in her ear.” Robin is a paralegal who lives in New York City.
Nat Geo Gets Luxurious with Fitzsimmons
In a world rights acquisition, Allyson Johnson at National Geographic Books bought 100 Hotels of a Lifetime by Annie Fitzsimmons. The publisher said the book, subtitled The World’s Ultimate Stays and slated for fall 2025, is an illustrated guide to “the grand histories, one-of-a-kind experiences, and lush hideaways of 100 of the world’s most remarkable hotels.” Fitzsimmons is the luxury travel and advisor editor at Afar Media. She did not use an agent in the deal.
