Silverstone to Rodale
Pam Krauss at Rodale preempted a diet book by actress and animal rights advocate Alicia Silverstone, tentatively titled The Kind Diet; Peter Steinberg sold world rights. By exploring the connection between what we put in our bodies and what we're doing to the planet, the book will help readers choose the right foods in the kitchen; it will include a three-step diet program and 75 vegan and macrobiotic recipes. Pub date is October 2009.
In a second win for Rodale, Julie Will beat three other bidders for North American rights to Laurie Puhn's5-Minute Love Conversations via Andrea Barzvi at ICM. Puhn, a Harvard-trained lawyer who has a background in conflict resolution and mediation, will advise couples on how to fight “better,” providing five-minute daily strategies that will gradually lead to a more loving and productive communication style. Tentative pub date is fall 2010.
Lethal Weapons
Richard Nash and Charlie Winton have acquired Eric Nadler and Bob Coen's Dead Silence for Counterpoint. The book, which is tied in to a documentary film produced by the authors and scheduled for release in 2009, looks at the new biological arms race, investigating the 2001 U.S. anthrax attacks and their connection to an underworld of global germ warfare. Nadler and Coen move across four continents, go inside classified labs and to an off-limits Russian military compound to reveal a web of secrecy, corporate greed and global manipulation, including a look at the mysterious deaths of some of the world's leading germ war scientists in the wake of 9/11. The book will include illustrations. The deal was not agented, and Counterpoint has world rights.
Big YA Auctions
At Harper, Gretchen Hirsch prevailed in a multiple bid situation for Kimberly Derting's debut, The Body Finder, with a six-figure offer to Laura Rennert at Andrea Brown. This is a paranormal thriller that weaves a coming-of-age romance into the story of a 16-year-old girl with the ability to find dead bodies of murder victims through the imprints they leave behind on the world and on their killers; the girl herself then becomes the prey of a serial killer. Hirsch bought world rights to two books and will publish this first title in August 2009.
Nancy Siscoe at Knopf prevailed in an auction for Swati Avasthi's debut, Gravediggers; Rosemary Stimola sold North American rights to two books. The novel opens as a 16-year-old boy shows up at the door of his estranged older brother with a banged-up face, courtesy of his father's fists, as well as a secret. Gravediggers is scheduled to pub in spring 2010.
More Joy from Collins
Mary Ellen O'Neill has acquired the latest from Joy Bauer, Joy's Life Diet Cookbook, with a world rights offer on option to Jane Dystel at Dystel & Goderich. This will be a follow-up cookbook to Collins's soon-to-be-released Joy's Life Diet. Bauer, the author of Joy Bauer's Food Cures, Cooking with Joy and The 90/10 Weight Loss Plan, is the nutrition and health contributor for TheTodayShow and a monthly columnist for Self. Collins will publish in spring 2010.
New Page for Penguin
Tom Roberge at Penguin has acquired North American rights to French author Martin Page's fifth novel, Peut-Etre Une Histoire d'Amour (A Love Story, Perhaps) via Valerie Borchardt. The novel is about a young man who questions his sanity when he receives a breakup voicemail from a woman he doesn't remember having ever met or dated; Penguin published Page's debut, How I Became Stupid, in 2004. Pub date for the new one is early 2010, and an English title is yet to be decided.
