Debut to Harcourt

Tina Pohlman at Harcourt has preempted Peter Ferry's first novel, Travel Writing, with an undisclosed six-figure sum; Lorin Rees at Helen Rees Literary Agency sold world rights. The book explores the line between fact and fiction through the voice of a high school English teacher in the Chicago suburb of Lake Forest, who witnesses a car accident that kills a beautiful woman. But the accident may just be an elaborate tale the teacher concocts to impart the power of story to his restless students. Dave Eggers published an early portion of the book in McSweeney's; Harcourt plans a spring 2008 publication.

Doctor on Disease

Agent Joelle Delbourgo just concluded an auction for cardiologist Thomas Graboys's Losing Control: A Physician's Memoir of Life, Love and Loss Battling Parkinson's; Patricia Gift at Sterling acquired world volume rights. Graboys, 62, who was a senior physician at Brigham and Women's in Boston and a professor at Harvard Medical School, will write about coming to terms with this debilitating illness at the prime of life. Specifically, he explores the impact of the illness and incipient dementia on his sense of identity as a doctor, a husband and lover, an athlete, a father and grandfather, as well as learning to become a patient in the hands of other doctors. Graboys was among the team of doctors who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1985 for their work with the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War.

The Forest and the Trees

Matthew Benjamin at Collins has preempted world rights to Spike Carlsen's Wood: A Splintered History; Alfredo Santana and Dana Adkins at Santana-Tatsuuma Media International made the deal. Carlsen, a carpenter and editor at Family Handyman magazine, will write a biography of this natural source of heat, shelter, tools and recreation based on worldwide interviews and research. Included are an examination of a priceless Stradivarius violin in Italy; a consideration of baseball bats used by professionals; and a look at a Wisconsin wood dealer who sells 45,000-year-old wood from an Ice Age—era forest. Pub date is spring 2008.

New Hyde to D'day

Pay It Forward author Catherine Ryan Hyde, whose Love in the Present Tense was the first novel to be launched by Doubleday's Flying Dolphin imprint in May 2006, has signed again with Phyllis Grann and Suzanne Herz for a new novel, I Remember Windmills. Laura Rennert at Andrea Brown Literary Agency sold world rights for six figures. The book follows a 17-year-old Manhattan boy's relationship with an older woman and his ensuing journey of discovery, including the mystery of his mother's disappearance. Love in the Present Tense has just made the Richard and Judy shortlist in the U.K., and Hyde also has a new YA novel forthcoming from Knopf. Windmills should pub in early 2008.

The Briefing

Bestselling River, Cross My Heart author Breena Clarke has sold a new novel, tentatively titled Stand the Storm, to Terry Adams at Little, Brown, via agent Cynthia Cannell, who sold world English rights. The novel is about a family's surprising journey out of slavery in Civil War—era Washington, D.C.; projected pub date is July 2008.... Doubleday's Jason Kaufman has acquired North American rights to a thriller by David Levien titled City of the Sun from David Gernert at the Gernert Company. Levien, a screenwriter whose credits include co-writing Rounders and TheRunaway Jury,has written a noir about a father who teams up with an unorthodox PI to find his missing son. Pub date should be late in 2008, and rights have also already been sold in the U.K. (Transworld) and Brazil.