In a pre-Frankfurt interview with PW, Hachette CEO David Shelley said part of the thinking behind the publisher’s new combined U.S. and U.K. management structure was to be able to better coordinate the publisher’s efforts on global publications. And at the 2024 Frankfurt Book Fair, that included attending author Ken Follett's annual summit to review publication plans for the bestselling author's new novel Circle of Days, coming from Hachette in September.
The 2024 Follett summit took place on October 15 at the Frankfurter Hof, with some 50 attendees in person and an additional 35 joining virtually.
Follett has for years hosted an annual meeting of his many publishers at the Frankfurt Book Fair. But this year's gathering was the first in-person gathering in five years (the meetings were done virtually due to the pandemic). And of course, it was the first meeting attended by Follett's new team at Hachette, coming after Grand Central Publishing president and publisher Ben Sevier acquired U.S. and Canadian rights to Circle of Days, and Quercus managing director Jon Butler acquired U.K. and Commonwealth rights, this spring.
Follett was previously published by Penguin Random House in the U.S., for 45 years, and by Pan Macmillan in the U.K, for 35 years. In a statement announcing the deal in May, the author said that the move to Hachette "the beginning of an exciting new phase."
Set for a September 23, 2025 publication, Follett’s Circle of Days is one of the first big worldwide English-language acquisitions that Hachette made under its new structure, and hopes are high the book will be yet another major bestseller for the author, who has sold more than 195 million copies of his 37 books in more than 80 countries and 40 languages.
Hachette officials said the novel centers around “one of the greatest mysteries of our age: Stonehenge.” In a statement released at the Frankfurt Book Fair, Follett said he “always been drawn to stories of ordinary people doing seemingly impossible things,” which drew him write about Stonehenge.
“Stonehenge is one of the world’s most iconic and recognizable monuments but, in reality, so little is known about it. How was it built? Why was it built? Who built it?” Follett said. “It’s such a remarkable achievement and one of the greatest mysteries of all time and that’s a fantastic combination for a story.”
In addition, Circle of Days will also be published in foreign language editions around the world including the Czech Republic (Euromedia Group KS); Denmark (Gyldendal); Finland (Werner Söderström); France (Robert Laffont); Germany (Bastei Lübbe AG); Italy (Mondadori Libri S.P.A.); The Netherlands (Meulenhoff Boekerij); Portugal (Editorial Presença); Spain (Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial).
