French Bestseller Draws Heat
The international bestseller, Your Second Life Begins When You Realize that You Only Have One by Raphaëlle Giordano, has just sold to Transworld for U.K. rights, and to Random House Australia for ANZ rights. Susanna Lea Associates is handling English-language and film rights on behalf of Editions Eyrolles. (Eyrolles has, to date, closed deals for the title in 22 languages.) The novel is about a young woman named Claire who tries to bring joy back into her life after meeting a man who calls himself a "routinologist" and claims she suffers from "routinitis." The book was published in France in September 2015 and, by the summer of 2016, was a bestseller in the country. By May 2017, 600,000 copies had sold in France.
Swedish Thriller Picks Up Sales
The Nordin Agency is representing a debut thriller called The Patriots by Pascal Engman that is heating up. Rights to the book, which will be published this summer by Piratförlaget (Sweden), have been sold to Gyldendal (Norway), WSOY (Finland), and Uitgeverij Q (the Netherlands). The book begins with the murder of a Swedish journalist, an event which rips through Stockholm and causes widespread fear in newsrooms throughout the city. This story intersects with the tale of man who has taken a promise to protect Sweden from its enemies.
Norwegian Novel Preempted in Sweden
A Modern Family by Helga Flatland has sold in a preempt to Polaris (Sweden). Oslo Literary Agency controls rights to the book, which will be published in Norway by Aschehoug Forlag in August. The novel follows three adult children whose parents decide to separate. Flatland is the author of numerous novels, including Wing Loading and There Is No Whole (published by Aschehoug Forlag in 2015 and 2013, respectively).
Guatemalan Author's Backlist Sparks New Interest
The Rest is Silence by Guatemalan author Augusto Monterroso has sold to New York Review of Books for world English rights, in a deal brokered by International Editors' Co. Monterroso, who died in 2003, is considered one of the essential authors of the 20th century Latin American literature boom. He lived in Guatemala until 1944, when he was forced into exile for political reasons. He was known as a master of short fiction, and The Rest is Silence is the only novel he ever published. The book follows the life of a small town intellectual, charting his existence from childhood through retirement. Monterroso's work has, over the years, been translated into multiple languages.
