British publishers and agents will be looking for deals for authors who have worldwide brand names as well as debut novelists. Virgin founder Richard Branson, Charles Darwin's great-great granddaughter and Ted Hughes's brother all have new books for which rights are available. Among newcomers, a self-published Singapore lawyer has a detective series whose main character is described as a cross between an “Asian Inspector Morse and Columbo.” Looks like there will be a variety of titles to choose from at Frankfurt once again.
THE AGENTSUnited AgentsMaking its fair debut, the newly formed agency will arrive in Frankfurt with a bagful of goodies. Of particular appeal to Americans: The War Memoirs of HRH Wallis, Duchess of Windsor by Kate Auspitz, a fictionalized account by the woman for whom Edward VIII gave up the throne. James Buchan, grandson of John, author of The 39 Steps, has written his first novel in a decade—The Gate of Air is “both unsettling ghost story and intense love story.” One Morning Like a Bird is the latest from Andrew Miller. It's set in Tokyo in 1940, with Japan at war with China, and Yuji Takano attempting to cling to the life he has made for himself as a young poet.Edwards & FuglewiczThe late Ted Hughes is remembered in an “anecdotal and charming” memoir by his brother, Gerald Hughes. Ted and I—As It Was fondly recalls early family life in Yorkshire when Ted, a decade younger than Gerald, was already fascinated by the countryside and wildlife. Eclipse by Nicholas Clee, former editor of the Bookseller, is a study of the celebrated racehorse (1764—1789). Undefeated on the track and unrivalled at stud, 95% of all thoroughbreds are descended from him.Aitken Alexander AssociatesSurviving the Titanic by Andrew Wilson, biographer of Patricia Highsmith and Harold Robbins, will look out how the April 1912 disaster shaped the lives of those who survived it. Sticky Business by award-winning journalist Hugh Miles investigates the trade in gum arabic, used in everything from Coca-Cola to mascara to pesticides and produced exclusively by the world's poorest nations for use by the richest. Two fiction highlights from the agency: Family Business, the debut of Rosie Dastgir, moves between Pakistan and England when a divorced father takes his daughter back to the Pakistani village where he was born. Who Gets Fluffy? by Judith Summers is a smart commercial novel about a civilized divorce that turns nasty when it comes to custody of the couple's scruffy mongrel.Ed VictorJosephine Hart, author of Damage, writes about love—for another, for a family, for a country, for survival—in The Truth About Love. To Love, Honour and Betray by Kathy Lette is “a survival guide for anyone who has realized that the perfect marriage is like an orgasm—many of them are faked.” Paul Burston's The Gay Divorcee is “a hugely entertaining tale of love, marriage and the lies that happen in between.” And The Longest Climb chronicles author Dominic Faulkner's expedition from the Dead Sea to the peak of Everest.Tony Peake AssociatesSleeper's Wake by South Africa copywriter Alistair Morgan tells the story of a man who regains consciousness after a car accident to find that his wife and daughter are dead. Morgan has been published in the Paris Review and in the current O. Henry Awards anthology.Felicity Bryan AssociatesProfessor Christopher Duggan's Fascist Voices—Mussolini's Italy 1919—1945 is “a highly readable history” drawing on letters and diaries of those who lived under fascism. Stone's Fall by Iain Pears is “a huge historical mystery set in the world of high finance and international intrigue” in late 19th— and early 20th—century Venice.A.P. WattThree very different novels from established names: Aphrodite's Workshop for Reluctant Lovers by Marika Cobbold finds the gods having a moment of angst—divorce rates among mortals are rising and when a bestselling romantic novelist turns her back on love, both Eros and Aphrodite feel threatened. Geraldine Bedell's The Gulf Between Us, “a novel of mistakes, family, politics and love,” is set in 2002, as America is poised to invade Iraq. Set in WWII, Lissa Evans's Their Finest Hour and a Half finds a cast and crew attempting to make a film amid the rubble of the London Blitz of 1941.HHBDr. Nick Barratt chronicles the story of those who designed, built and sailed the ill-fated vessel in Lost Voices from the Titanic, a project commissioned by Trevor Dolby for his new Random House imprint, Preface. There's also a children's book and a TV documentary. Cooking is an HHB speciality and these two come with the Quadrille imprimatur: The Indian Diet by Anjum Anand; and Curry and Cake by Ballymaloe graduate Tiffany Goodall, billed as “the student cookery bible of all time.”MBAThe Insider, an adventure thriller by Aiveen McCarthy, set in Dublin and the Bahamas and featuring a feisty Irish computer hacker, has already caused excitement across Europe. Clare Morrall made headlines when her debut, Astonishing Splashes of Colour, hit the Booker shortlist. Her new one, The Language of Others, poised for U.K. publication, has at its heart a misfit struggling to make her way in a world in which she doesn't feel she belongs. Adam LeBor has made a name for himself with nonfiction such as Milosevic and City of Oranges.The Budapest Protocol, his debut novel, is a conspiracy thriller set in 1944 as the Germans planned a Fourth Reich—economic rather than military.Rogers, Coleridge & White“A beautifully told story of family secrets and betrayal involving knots, Harry Houdini and the shifting landscape of memory” sums up The Devil's Music, a novel by Jane Rusbridge.THE PUBLISHERS
Pan Macmillan
A timely tome: Terra—Tales of the Earth, by Dr. Richard Hamblyn, is a book about “human response to natural disasters.” It examines the relationships between the planet, those of us who inhabit it and the scientists who seek to understand it. William Horwood, author of The Duncton Chronicles, has embarked on a four-book fantasy series that will explore “the borderlands where everyday life merges with primeval magic.” Also, two first novels: Little Gods by Anna Richards, “an entertaining novel about love, war and one woman's quest for acceptance”; and, set in gold-rush America, The Swansong of Wilbur McCrum by Bronia Kita is “dazzling and inventive.”
Hachette Livre UK—Little, Brown
Black Diamond is the true story of “Ellen,” whose happy life in Liberia ended when civil war erupted and she saw her parents murdered. Raped and brutalized, she recovered in a refugee camp and returned to fight with the rebel forces, leading a battalion of women and earning the nickname Black Diamond; Diana Taylor is the coauthor. Man Booker—shortlistee Linda Grant's next project is nonfiction—The Thoughtful Dresser, a book about clothes (rather than fashion), our relationship to them and their significance. Inspector Singh Investigates by Shamini Flint is a new detective series, set in Malaysia, and is described as “a cross between an Asian Inspector Morse and an Asian Columbo.” The author, a lawyer, self-published in Singapore to great success.
Hachette Livre UK—Hodder & Stoughton
Kathryn Fox (Skin and Bone; Without Consent) has a series of forensic thrillers launching in 2010. James Patterson and Jeffery Deaver are among fans of the Australian, to whom Hodder has U.S. rights for the first time. Sophie Hannah, author of Little Face and The Other Half Lives, scheduled for February, has signed a five-book deal with Hodder. Hat Trick will film all four of her extant novels. Empire is the title of a Roman trilogy by first-time author Anthony Riches, a former soldier whose writing is “like Andy McNab in a historical setting.” Wounds of Honour opens the series and is set on Hadrian's Wall in 189 A.D.
Hachette Livre UK—Headline
Jessica Ruston reinvents the blockbuster with Luxury, “a fabulously decadent read.” Daphne du Maurier meets CSI in Imogen Robertson's debut, Instruments of Darkness, set in 18th-century London, with all its intrigue and energy, and touching on the American War of Independence. Daisychain, set in Glasgow, is the first outing by G.J. Moffat: a thriller in the James Patterson style. Matt Lynn, Chris Ryan's amanuensis, breaks cover with his first novel, described as “Band of Brothers meets Andy McNab”; Death Force is a story of hard-nosed mercenaries. Plus two titles from the Business-Plus list: The Flipside by Adam J. Jackson offers life-affirming stories guaranteed to make us change the way we look at adversity; and in Work Less, Achieve More, Fergus O'Connell suggests steps to destressing and delivering on time.
Hachette Livre UK—Orion Group
As well as new crime fiction from Graham Hurley (No Lovelier than Death) and Steve Mosby (Still Bleeding), there's hard-hitting debut fantasy from Stephen Deas with The Adamantine Palace, and swashbuckling fantasy with Pierre Pevel's The Cardinal's Blades. In Vlad: The Last Confession, Chris Humphreys tells “the true story of Dracula as it's never been told before.” Philosopher A.C. Grayling has written a personal guide to the ideas that will shape the 21st century, Ideas That Matter. The Book of Exploration by Ray Howgego is a history of exploration in the style of The Map Book, which was an international success. Music journalist Mick Wall chronicles the life and times of Led Zeppelin in When Giants Ruled the Earth. And a star of this summer's hit movie Mamma Mia! chronicles her own life in her own inimitable way: That's Another Story by Julie Walters, one of Britain's national treasures.
Random House/CHA
Peruvian novelist and playwright Alonso Cueto will make his fiction debut in 2010 with The Blue Hour. When his mother dies, a young lawyer discovers that his long-dead father was not the hero he thought he was but had ordered the torture and rape of POWs and civilians in the 1980s civil war. He becomes obsessed with finding the one prisoner his father spared and kept as a lover. “Part Lucky Jim, part Nick Hornby, part Jay McInerney”—that's how Tom Shone's debut In the Rooms is being billed. A laidback British literary agent is at large in the dynamic New York publishing world, hoping a reclusive literary hero will be the key to success. 1922: Biography of a Year by author and TV presenter Kevin Jackson looks at “two sacred texts of modernism”—Ulysses and The Wasteland—and puts them in the literary and social context of the year in which they were written—the year F. Scott Fitzgerald coined the term “the Jazz Age.”
Random House/CCV
Frank McLynn has written the first full-length biography of Marcus Aurelius in decades. A philosopher, soldier and emperor, his life and works still resonate, 2,000 years after his death. Nothing but the Truth is a collection of reportage by Anna Politikovskaya, author of A Dirty War and Putin's Russia and a correspondent for Novaya Gazeta until she was murdered in 2006. Ruth Padel, great-great granddaughter of Charles Darwin, offers “an intimate and highly original interpretation” of the life and work of her ancestor in Darwin: A Life in Poems. In the tradition of Philippa Gregory, Fiona Mountain's novel Lady of the Butterflies tells the story of Lady Eleanor Glanville, a pioneering 17th-century etymologist. Changing a tire, mending a puncture—these were skills boys once learned from their fathers. But no more—which came as an embarrassing realization to Gareth May, who has written 21st Century Boy: The Manual to Growing Up to plug the gap.
Random House/Ebury Press
Accompanying an ambitious BBC TV series, Life by Martha Holmes and Mike Gunton explores the extraordinary lengths animals go to in order to survive. Contented Dementia: 24-Hour Wraparound Care for Life-Long Well-Being by psychologist Oliver James outlines a radical new approach to caring for those with various forms of dementia.
Random House/Virgin Books
A man who needs no introduction: Business Stripped Bare is Richard Branson's guide to global success, a sharing of his Virgin Group's secrets and the truths behind his most audacious deals.
Transworld
Paolo Giordano, a 26-year-old particle physicist, is the winner of Italy's Campiello and Premio Strega prizes for his debut novel, The Solitude of Prime Numbers, a coming-of-age story in which the destinies of Alice and Mattia intertwine like two spirals in a double helix. It's sold 800,000 copies in his homeland and rights have been sold in 20 countries.
HarperCollins
Patrick Janson-Smith's Blue Door imprint is well and truly open for business. PJS arrives in Frankfurt with two major acquisitions: Dead Spy Running by Jon Stock of the Sunday Telegraph is “a taut modern spy thriller” set during the London Marathon. And I Heart New York by Lindsey Kelk, “an infectious and funny debut,” finds Angela fleeing to the Big Apple to start over after her boyfriend cheats on her. It's the first in a series of romantic comedies.
Camilla Lackberg made her debut with Ice Princess, which has sold 2.5 million copies in her native Sweden and has sold in 16 languages; she returns with The Preacher, another psychological thriller. Sailing along behind Patrick O'Brian, John Stack's Ship of Rome launches an historical fiction series, this time featuring the Roman navy. From the Friday Project list, Model for Living by psychiatrist Julian Short is published in partnership with the Premier & Storm modeling agencies, both of which will give a copy of this self-help book to every model they sign up. “Madhur Jaffrey meets Sex and the City”—that's the hype for Miss Masala by Mallika Basu, a handbag-sized collection of Indian recipes for the girl about town.
Back in the 1980s, the late Douglas Adams and Mark Carwardine embarked on an expedition to find some of the most threatened animals on earth. Twenty years later, Adams's friend Fry has teamed up with Carwardine to determine whether those species still exist. The result is Last Chance to See. More Than Just a Game by Chuck Korr and Marvin Close tells the story of a group of political prisoners and freedom fighters who found a sense of dignity against the odds while in Robben Island, turning soccer into an active force in the struggle for freedom.
Penguin
Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers have left Random for Penguin with The New River Café Book, a “personal interpretation” of dishes they have learned on their innumerable trips to Italy. The Global Arms Race by Andrew Feinstein, whose journalism has appeared in the New York Times, examines a business that is worth between $35 billion and $55 billion annually and accounts for 40% of corruption in world trade. Periodic Tales by Hugh Aldersey-Williams looks at the chemical elements behind the icons burned in our memories from school chemistry lessons. Not True and Not Unkind is a first novel by Ed O'Loughlin, who has reported widely from Africa and the Middle East. It is the story of a Dublin newspaper editor who commits suicide.
Faber
The Eye of the Red Tsar by Sam Westland is the first in a series of crime novels set in Stalin's Russia. The central character, once chief inspector to Tsar Nicholas, has been released from prison to serve Stalin—but why? Journalist Stav Sharaz made his fiction debut in 2004 with The Devil's Playground; his latest, The Black Monastery, is set on the Greek island of Palassos, where a detective is investigating a grisly murder with echoes of another, 33 years ago at the same spot.
Profile
Darwin always excites controversy—but What Darwin Got Wrong will “change the direction of the debate about evolution forever.” Professors Jerry Fodor and Massimo Piatelli-Palmarini, respectively of Rutgers and Arizona universities, show there are “major scientific and philosophical problems with the theory of natural selection.” Into the Heart of the Mafia by David Lane, author of Berlusconi's Shadow, shows how globalization has transformed the Mafia into more than simply a local phenomenon: now priests, politicians, trade unionists, businessmen and ordinary citizens must bend to pressure.
Bloomsbury
Laetitia Maklouf's The Virgin Gardener is aimed at people who don't know what mulch is and don't want to get too much dirt under their fingernails. Christmas by Sarah Raven offers a culinary and visual feast—though apparently we should have started preparing in August. From Emma Bowd, author of A Passion for Shoes and A Passion for Handbags, comes a first novel—A Shoe Princess's Guide to the Galaxy. How does a 30-something shoe worshipper come to terms with motherhood, domesticity—and flats?
Kyle Cathie
Liz Earle's Skin Secrets reveals beauty secrets learned over 30 years—Earle's organic skincare products are some of the most trusted in the international marketplace. Cyclist Nicole Cooke won the Olympics women's road race in Beijing; Cycle for Life reveals all you need to know to cycle safely.
