Thriller Grabs Foreign Sales & Movie Option
Kill The Father by Sandrone Dazieri, a TV writer, has now sold in seven countries and has been optioned by Italy's RB Productions. Mondadori published the book in Italy last May, and rights are controlled by Grandi & Associates Literary Agency. The novel follows an agoraphobic former female cop who teams up with a kidnapping survivor that has dedicated his life to bringing child molesters to justice. When a woman is murdered near Rome, the pair searched for her son, who has disappeared. Foreign publishers who have acquired the novel include Piper in Germany; Laffont in France; Xander in Holland; Hayakawa in Japan; Patakis in Greece; Ombra in Albania; and Alfaguara in Spain.
First Major Deal for Finlandia Prize Winner
Jussi Valtonen's They Know Not What They Do, winner of the Finlandia Prize (considered the most prestigious literary award in Finland), has sold, in its first foreign deal, to the Signatuur imprint of the Dutch publisher Bruna. In another just-closed deal, Oneworld Publication bought world English rights to the book. Elina Ahlback of the Elina Ahlback Literary Agency controls rights, and Tammi was the originating Finnish publisher. Released in Finland last September, the book has already sold 100,000 copies according to Ahlback. It follows a professor who, after his laboratory is ransacked by animal rights activists, realizes that the violence is connected to the son he abandoned years earlier. Valtonen is the author of two novels and a short story collection.
Spanish Novel Sells to Knopf
The new book by essayist and novelist Gonzalo Torne, Divorce in the Air, about a couple who travel to a resort in an effort to rekindle their failing relationship, has been acquired by Knopf in the U.S. Through flashbacks, narrator Joan-Marc talks about his first marriage to an American named Helen, and reveals his life story, including the suicide of his father and living with his depressive mother. Literatura Random House published the book, and Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial control rights. Harvill has acquired in the U.K.; Mondadori in Italy; DVA in Germany; and sales have also been closed with houses in the Netherlands, Brazil, and France.
Hodder Sees Action on Boris Johnson's Churchill Book
Hodder is going all out for London mayor Boris Johnson's new book on Winston Churchill, The Churchill Factor, after seeing local sales and international acquisitions rise. The house has created an app called "Think Like Churchill" that engages users with the political crises that the politician faced in his time. Hodder & Stoughton controls world rights to the book and, so far, the title has sold in 16 countries, including to Riverhead in the U.S. Hodder & Stoughton reported that 125,000 copies have sold in the U.K. The book has also been nominated for National Political Biography of the Year award; the winner of the prize will be announced January 28.
Spanish Novel Picks Up Multiple Sales
Iván Repila's The Boy Who Stole Attila's Horse will be published by Pushkin Press in English in March, after having originally been released in Spanish by Libros del Selencio. Described by its originating publisher as an allegory, the novel follows two brothers, Big and Small, who hatch a desperate plan while trapped in a well. Ella Sher of the Spain-based Ella Sher Literary Agency controls all rights, and deals have been made with De Bezige Bij in the Netherlands; Les Editiones Denoel in France; Sellerio in Italy; and in Romanian.
Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified the publisher Bruna as German; it is a Dutch publisher.
