DEAL OF THE WEEK
Dorman Takes Ford’s Debut
For her eponymous imprint at Viking, Pamela Dorman preempted North American rights to two books by Olivia Ford, including Mrs. Quinn’s Rise to Fame. The publisher said the debut novel is a “bighearted” tale about “a septuagenarian who decides to defy the usual restrictions of age and try out for a spot in a televised British baking competition, and the long-concealed secret that threatens to shatter the foundations of her nearly 60-year marriage.” The title was pitched as “Lessons in Chemistry meets The Great British Bake-Off.” Jane Kirby at U.K. publisher Michael Joseph brokered the deal, working on behalf of Lucy Morris at Curtis Brown, and the book is due out in spring 2024.
Tiny Reparations Welcomes Yoda
Hiroko Yoda, a Shinto cultural historian, sold North American rights to Eight Million Ways to Happiness at auction to Emi Ikkanda at Tiny Reparations Books. The PRH imprint explained that the book, slated for summer 2025, is “an inspiring journey through Japan’s uniquely flexible approach to spirituality and nature” that offers guidance to “anyone struggling with disconnection in the modern world.” Yoda, a contributor to the New Yorker, was represented by Dado Derviskadic at Folio Literary Management.
DAW Gets ‘Splintered’ with Williams
In a two-book, North American rights agreement, DAW Books’ Betsy Wollheim bought Tad Williams’s The Splintered Sun. Williams is the bestselling author of the Thorn trilogy and the Otherland quartet; the new fantasy novel follows, DAW said, “the adventures of Robin Hood–esque figure Flann Alderwood and his band of misfit rebels.” Matt Bialer at Sanford J. Greenburger Associates represented Williams. The Splintered Sun is set for fall 2024
Europa Re-ups Lagioia
Sandro Ferri at Europa Editions bought North American rights to Nicola Lagioia’s The City of the Living. Europa released the author’s Strega Prize–winning novel Ferocity in 2017. The publisher described the new novel, slated for fall 2023, as a “Truman Capote–style investigation of one of the most vicious crimes in recent Italian history—the brutal murder of 23-year-old Luca Varani by Manuel Foffo and Marco Prato.” The City of the Living will be translated by Ann Goldstein. Laura Piccarolo of Einaudi Editore represented Lagioia, who is also director of the Turin Book Fair.
Random House Reaps Norris’s ‘Harvest’
Electric Literature editor-in-chief Denne Michele Norris sold world rights to her debut novel, When the Harvest Comes, to Noa Shapiro at Random House in a preempt. RH said the book is about “a young Black gay man reckoning with the death of his reverend father, who never accepted him.” It explores how this heartbreak “forces him to confront his deepest desires around gender, family, and sex.” Norris is also cohost of the Food 4 Thot podcast. Robert Guinsler at Sterling Lord Literistic represented her in the deal.
Ciccone Goes ‘Nowhere’ at Dial
North American rights to Nowhere Girls by Carla Ciccone were acquired at auction by Annie Chagnot at the Dial Press. The Random House imprint said the book, which was also acquired by Craig Pyette and Lauren Park at Random House Canada, combines memoir, science, and medical history to detail the author’s “life-changing experience being diagnosed with ADHD at age 39.” Inspired by an article Ciccone wrote for Harper’s Bazaar in September, Nowhere Girls “speaks to the hundreds of thousands of women currently receiving belated diagnoses for a disorder they have likely had since birth.” Laura Usselman at the Stuart Krichevsky Agency represented Ciccone.
