A new novel by author David Leavitt that, like some of his previous titles (While England Sleeps), is based on a true story and living characters, was signed as part of a two-book deal by Bloomsbury's Colin Dickerman. It's The Indian Clerk, based on an actual relationship in the early years of the last century between a prominent English mathematician and a poor, uneducated Indian clerk who was a math genius; an attempt to integrate him into English scientific and social life failed miserably. The second book is a memoir. The deal was for world English rights, signed with Andrew Wylie.