In a deal rumored to be in the seven figure-range, Knopf editor Jenny Jackson sold her debut novel. Pam Dorman, who has an eponymous imprint at Penguin Random House, preempted North American rights to Pineapple Street. The book, which follows three sisters who are members of a wealthy family, is slated for early 2023.
Brettne Bloom at the Book Group brokered the deal for Jackson, a 19-year veteran at Knopf who has edited such authors as Emily St. John Mandel and Erin Morgenstern. Pineapple Street, which was heading for auction before Dorman swooped in, is, the publisher said, "set in late-capitalist New York," and follows the daughters of the WASP-y Stockton family: Darley, Sasha, and Georgiana. Each sister has a different relationship to the family funds, with the oldest having been born into it, the middle sister having married into it, and the youngest eager to give all her money away.
In the proposal for the book, which PW obtained, Bloom described the novel this way: "If Edith Wharton’s female characters are often forced to claw their way up the social ladder to secure their wealth and status, the women in Pineapple Street are on the opposite path—each one is deeply conflicted about the familial wealth they have inherited." Bloom went on to call the novel a "bighearted" tale "about love and family," comparing it to work by authors like Curtis Sittenfeld, Emma Straub and Kiley Reid.
Foreign rights deals for the novel have also begun closing, with, among others, preempts completed in the U.K., Canada, and Germany. When asked about the advance, a spokesperson for the publisher declined to comment.
