Tragicomic French Novel Finds Sales Abroad

Barracuda Forever by Pascal Ruter, which will be published in France by JC Lattes in January, has sold to Little Brown U.K., Grijalbo (Spain), Corbaccio (Italy) and Droemer Knaur (Germany). It’s about an 85-year-old man named Napoleon who feels the onset of dementia and decides to divorce his wife to spare her the pain of what’s to come. With his grandson Leonard, he decides to lead a new life that rebels against conformity. JC Lattes controls all rights.

Finnish Bestseller Sells in Norway

The Matriarch, the new book by Finnish author Jari Tervo, is a bestseller in Finland, and Norwegian rights have sold to Gyldendal Norsk in a pre-empt. Otava published in September, and this is Tervo's first book with the publisher. It looks at the Ingrians, people of a Finnish origin who lived between Finland & Russia in an area close to St. Petersburg. As Otava explains, “Tervo is not afraid to call what happened to them in the Soviet Union a genocide. He gives these people a voice in form of a novel that truly shakes its reader, combining historic events with current themes like minority repression, refugees, human rights, and the role of Russia today.” Otava Group Agency controls all rights.

French Novel Gains Sales Abroad

French house Les Editions De Minuit recently published Continuer by Laurent Mauvigner, which has sold to several houses, including Feltrinelli (Italy) and DTV (Germany). The book is about Sibylle, who takes her young son, Samuel, on a horse-riding trip in Kyrgyzstan to help him cope with a difficult time in his life. Minuit controls all rights.

Indonesian Writer’s Novel Continues to Pick Up Sales

In July we reported on Clarissa N. Goenawan’s novel, Rainbirds, and its sale to Soho Press. Since then the book has gone on to sell in seven additional territories, including to Oceanida in Greece, and Les Éscales in France. The book is about a man who moves to a town where his sister was murdered. Goenawan was born in Indonesia and currently resides in Singapore. Spain’s Pontas Agency controls all rights.