In her first acquisition as editor-in-chief of Little, Brown, Judy Clain pre-empted world rights to the debut novel from Peggy Riley, Amity and Sorrow. Joy Harris at the Joy Harris Literary Agency brokered the deal. An LB rep said the book is about a mother who escapes a polygamous cult, with her two daughters, and winds up at the Oklahoma farm of a man caring for his ill father. Clain likened the book to titles like Kim Edwards's The Memory Keeper's Daughter and The Girls by Lori Larsens; Amity and Sorrow is scheduled for 2013.
The deal also marks another first--the first deal made by a female editor in chief at Little, Brown. The LB rep noted that Clain is the first woman to hold the position at the Hachette division.
