DEAL OF THE WEEK
Harper Wave Signs Psychiatry Book
For Harper Wave, Karen Rinaldi won world rights to Godfrey Pearlson and Susannah Cahalan’s A World of Their Own: Making Sense of Madness for six figures at auction. Mark Gottlieb at Trident Media Group represented Pearlson, a professor of psychiatry and neuroscience at the Yale University School of Medicine. According to Gottlieb, the book describes a “recent, quiet revolution in psychiatry research that has profound implications for the diagnosis and treatment of psychotic disorders.” The authors intend to “reclassify psychotic illnesses based on biology, rather than on clinical symptoms.” Cahalan, who is represented by Kimberly Witherspoon at InkWell Management, wrote the bestselling memoir Brain on Fire, about her own psychiatric breakdown.
SMP Wins Kapelke-Dale’s ‘Fortune’
Sarah Cantin at St. Martin’s Press bought world English rights to Rachel Kapelke-Dale’s The Fortune Seller. The novel, set for winter 2024, was pitched as “Yellowjackets meets The Talented Mr. Ripley,” St. Martin’s said, and is set at Yale University and in Manhattan in the early 2000s. It follows “a skilled tarot card reader and an accomplished equestrienne who dies under mysterious circumstances, revealing a web of deceit and grift within an elite circle of friends.” Kapelke-Dale (The Ballerinas) was represented by Sarah Phair at Sanford J. Greenburger Associates.
One World Prays for Power’s ‘Imam’
Carla Power sold world rights to The Lady Imam to Chris Jackson at One World. In the book, Power, a two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist, examines the life and spiritual journey of theologian amina wadud. One World called wadud a “preacher’s kid” from Maryland who went on to become “the most famous—and infamous—Muslim American visionary since Malcolm X, challenging sexism, racism, and homophobia through her struggles for social justice.” Erin Harris at Folio Literary Management represents Power. The Lady Imam is slated for June 2024.
Knopf Toasts Dante’s ‘Aperitivo’
Knopf’s Lexy Bloom won world rights, at auction, to Cent’anni: Caffè Dante NYC and the Aperitivo Way of Life. Written by Linden Pride, Nathalie Hudson, and Reggie Nadelson, the title marks the first cocktail book to be published by the famous Random House imprint. Hudson and Pride are the owners of the titular Greenwich Village bar, and Nadelson is the author of Marvelous Manhattan: The Restaurants, Bars and Shops That Make This City Special. The book, Knopf said, will feature food and drink recipes from the century-old establishment. William Clark at WM Clark Associates handled the agreement.
Mellors' 'Sisters' Join Ballantine’s Family
North American rights to two books by Coco Mellors were preempted by Sara Weiss at Ballantine. The London-born, Los Angeles–based author, who published her debut novel, Cleopatra and Frankenstein, in February, is represented by Mollie Glick and Emily Westcott at Creative Artists Agency. Ballantine said Blue Sisters, the first title under contract, follows “three sisters who, after the death of their fourth sister, navigate grief, addiction, and ambition as they return home to their New York apartment, and back to one another.” The novel is slated for spring 2024. At press time, in addition to the U.S. deal, Blue Sisters has sold to publishers in Germany, Spain, and the U.K.
