Frankfurt Book Fair Briefcase 2019 Rights Wednesday, 16th October 2019

Agents announce their top titles for the Frankfurt Book Fair (16-20 October)

Aitken Alexander Girl, Woman, Other is Bernardine Evaristo's Booker-shortlisted verse novel, about an interconnected group of Black British women (agent Emma Patterson; Hamish Hamilton UK; Grove US; Eksmo Russia). Sisters is the new novel by Daisy Johnson (left), the youngest author to be shortlisted for the Booker Prize: a "taut, powerful and deeply moving" account of sibling love (agent Chris Wellbelove; Cape UK; Riverhead US; Shanghai Literature and Art China; Stock France; BTB Germany; Koppernik Netherlands; Swiat Ksiazki Poland).

In Imperfect: The Power of Good Enough in the Age of Perfectionism, behavioural psychologist Tom Curran distils his research on perfectionism to show why being "just good enough" is the key to happiness, health and success (agent Chris Wellbelove; Scribner US; under offer UK). Meet Dean and his rescue kitten Nala on an adventurous and inspiring journey around the globe, in Nala's World by Dean Nicholson and Garry Jenkins (agent Lesley Thorne; Hodder UK; Grand Central US; WSOY Finland; Nona Sweden; Luebbe Germany; Sperling Italy; Meulenhoff Netherlands; Porto Portugal). Social scientist Des Fitzgerald explores the future of urban spaces in Metropolis Now (agent Chris Wellbelove; Faber UK; Basic Books US). Richard Cohen's The History Makers is an epic exploration of who gets to write the history books, and of how the lives and biases of certain storytellers continue to influence our ideas (agent the Robbins Office; Random House US; Weidenfeld UK). Ampersand Agency Eleanor Porter's debut, provisionally entitled The Ripped Earth, is the lyrical and unsparing story – based on a real event - of a young girl scapegoated for a catastrophe that divided her Elizabethan community (agent Peter Buckman; Boldwood world English). Tendai Huchu is a Zimbabwean who has lived in Edinburgh for most of his adult life and whose The Library of the Dead is a fantasy featuring a Ghosttalker who moves between the worlds of the dead and the living (agent Jamie Cowen; Tor UK; Tor NA). The secretive and mysterious world of North Korea is uncovered in Two Years in North Korea by Lindsey Miller, who enjoyed diplomatic immunity, and hence freedom of movement, when her diplomat husband was stationed in Pyongyang from 2017 to 2019 (agent Anne-Marie Doulton; September Publishing world English). The agency has sold 21 of HRF Keating's crime novels starring Inspector Ghote of the Bombay Police to Severn House (Canongate). Mark Hill's The Bad Place is the first in a new crime series set on the coast of Essex, and a Times crime book of the month (agent Jamie Cowen; Head of Zeus world English). In Buried in Burma, historian Tracy Spaight and archaeologist Andy Brockman investigate the story that a number of brand-new Spitfires were buried in Burma at the end of the Second World War (agent Peter Buckman; History Press world). Darley Anderson

www.bookbrunch.co.uk Design by: BDS Digital © BookBrunch Ltd. In Rage of Maidens by debut author Sinéad Desmond (right) the man Alexa loves has done something terrible to her; she imagines him dying - and he dies (agent Camilla Bolton). When her mother dies, Jude must return to her unhappy childhood home to find something among the clutter, in A Last Breath by debut author RS Maxwell (agent Tanera Simons). Debut author Vicky Bradley's psychological thriller Before I Say I Do follows Julia, who wants to leave her past behind by marrying Mark - but the groom is missing (agent Camilla Bolton; Simon & Schuster UK).

Veronica, heroine of Away with the Penguins by Hazel Prior, is not done with her life yet, because she has some penguins to save (agent Darley Anderson; Transworld UK; Berkley NA; options in six languages). Photo by Lili Forberg

Blake Friedmann The Irish Princess by Elizabeth Chadwick is a sumptuous journey of ambition and desire, love and loss (agent Isobel Dixon; Sphere UK; Recorded Books US Audio; Euromedia Czech Republic; Blanvalet Germany; Proszynski Poland). In One Eye Open by Paul Finch, DI Lynda Hagen's investigation into a suspicious car crash becomes something entirely more dangerous when she discovers that the "Red Book" - the most vital asset of a criminal empire - has been stolen (agent Tom Witcomb; Orion world English). Peter James follows his ghost story The House on Cold Hill with The Secret of Cold Hill (agent Isobel Dixon; Pan Macmillan UK & Canada; Canelo US). South African writer Deon Meyer's (left) new thriller is The Last Hunt, in which Captain Benny Griessel's investigation into the death of an ex-cop becomes entangled with a hitman's plot to assassinate a corrupt president (agent Isobel Dixon; rights sold include Human & Rousseau Afrikaans; Hodder UK; Grove Atlantic NA). Sheila O'Flanagan's new novel is The Women Who Ran Away, about two women who form an unlikely friendship as they face up to shocking truths about the men they have loved (agent Isobel Dixon; Headline UK). Bobby March Will Live Forever is Alan Parks' new novel starring Harry McCoy, here investigating the death of a rock star and a missing girl in 1970s Glasgow (agent Tom Witcomb; Canongate world English; Bompiani Italy). Felicity Bryan Novelist Adam Brookes' first non-fiction title is Fragile Cargo, about the evacuation of China's Forbidden City art collection during World War Two (agent Catherine Clarke; Chatto UK; Atria US). Tim Birkhead presents an account of our relationship with birds from the era of cave paintings to thepresent day in Connections: Our Relationship with Birds (agent Felicity Bryan; Viking world English). How To Build a Human: The Art of Parenting Scientifically, by scientist and author of Swearing Is Good for You Emma Byrne (right), is a "witty but compassionate guide" to parenthood (agent Carrie Plitt; Profile world English; China Simplified Beijing Green Beans Book Co). The Craft: How the Freemasons Made the Modern World is an "important and enthralling" exploration of the Freemasons by John Dickie, author and professor of Italian studies (agent Catherine Clarke; Hodder UK; Public Affairs NA; S Fischer Germany; Editori Laterza Italy; Uitgeverij Ambo- Anthos Netherlands). In The Octopus by Tess Little, Elspeth attends the 50th birthday party of her estranged ex-husband, a famous and notoriously difficult film director; the morning after, he is dead (agent Carrie Plitt; Hodder UK). Conversations on Love by journalist Natasha Lunn is an exploration of how we find, sustain and lose love through revealing conversations and personal essays (agent Carrie Plitt; under offer UK).

www.bookbrunch.co.uk Design by: BDS Digital © BookBrunch Ltd. Photo by Vanity Studios Georgina Capel Daniel Susskind explores how we might thrive in a world where technology has made many jobs redundant in A World Without Work: Technology, Automation and How We Should Respond (agent Georgina Capel; Allen Lane UK; Holt US; Manole Brazil; Bompiani Italy; Flammarion France; Mirae N Co, Korea; Commonwealth Taiwan). Daniel Chandler's Free and Equal brings the ideas of John Rawls to a popular audience (agent Georgina Capel; Allen Lane UK). Roger Moorhouse's First to Fight: The Polish War 1939 is billed as the first history of the Polish war for almost half a century(agent Georgina Capel; Bodley Head UK; Basic Books US; Znak Poland). Greg Woolf's The Life and Death of Ancient Cities: A Natural History spans a period from the end of the Bronze Age to the beginning of the Middle Ages (agent Georgina Capel; OUP UK; OUP US; Ginkgo China; Einaudi Italy).

Chibundu Onuzo's (left) novel Union is a story of Britain's relationship with her African guests in the 20th century - a story of fathers and daughters and of one woman's quest to find her identity (agent Georgina Capel; Virago UK; Narrative Landscape Press West Africa). C&W One Night Only is a first novel by Julietta Henderson, about 12-year-old would-be comedian Norman, who, following his best friend Jax's death, wants to look after his mum, find the father he's never met, and honour Jax's memory by performing at the Edinburgh fringe (agent Sue Armstrong; Transworld UK; Droemer Germany; De Fontein Netherlands). Dangerous, Defective & Delirious by Dr Elinor Cleghorn is a "ground- breaking" examination of the medical industry and its historical misdiagnoses of women (agent Emma Finn; Weidenfeld UK). In Line of Sight, evolutionary biologist Andrew Parker tells the epic story of vision, from the first primitive light sensors hundreds of millions of years ago, to AI and the quest to replicate the human visual system in robotics today (agent Richard Pike; Thomas Rap Netherland; Debate/PRH Spain). A Knife To Cut Through Water is a debut novel by Stinging Fly contributor and co-editor of literary journal Banshee Eimear Ryan, about Beth Crowe, a prospective Olympic swimmer newly enrolled at college, forced to come to terms with her own life and desires after the death of her grandmother (agent Lucy Luck). Financial Times journalist Simon Mundy will spend 18 months travelling the globe meeting everyone from farmers planting a "green wall" across the Sahara, to Japanese engineers building ships powered by wind turbines and solar panels, to the first climate refugees, for Race for Tomorrow (agent Sophie Lambert). In The Octopus Man by Jasper Gibson, Tom, once an outstanding student, is lost in the dispassionate machinery of the mental health system, and accompanied at all times by Malamock, the Octopus God of his own creation, part-comforter, part-autarch, part-malevolent-guide (agent Clare Conville; UK White Rabbit/Orion). Curtis Brown Two women are on a desolate road that slices through the New Mexican desert, bound together by a mission they can't afford to fail, in Jessica Barry's (right) new thriller Don't Turn Around (agent Felicity Blunt; Harvill Secker UK; Harper US). Comedian and novelist Mark Watson's new novel is Contacts, about a man who decides to commit suicide having lost everything, and sends a final text to his whole contact list before shutting off his phone (agent Cathryn Summerhayes; HarperCollins UK). The Seduction by Joanna Briscoe asks, what if the person you most trusted, your therapist, turned out to be the most dangerous thing in your life? (agent Jonny Geller; Bloomsbury UK).

www.bookbrunch.co.uk Design by: BDS Digital © BookBrunch Ltd. Wendy Holden turns to historical fiction with The Governess, telling the story of Marion "Crawfie" Crawford, a woman who lived on the most intimate terms with the future Queen Elizabeth II for 17 years (agents Jonathan Lloyd and Lucy Morris; Welbeck UK; Albin Michel France; Urano Spain). The new novel by Louise Candlish, bestselling author of Our House, is The Other Passenger: "Your friend (a fellow commuter) goes missing on the last river boat home and all suspicions fall on you. But you are innocent, totally innocent. Aren't you?" (agent Sheila Crowley; Simon & Schuster UK). Defending the Future: What we've all got wrong about tech and what we can do to fix it by Dex Torricke-Barton is a manifesto from Mark Zuckerberg's former speech writer (agent Gordon Wise). DHH Literary Agency David Wragg's The Black Hawks is an epic fantasy adventure debut for fans of Joe Abercrombie and Nicholas Eames about a bunch of foul-mouthed mercenaries, a knight and a prince (agent Harry Illingworth; HarperVoyager world English). Eve Smith's The Waiting Rooms is set in a world where an antibiotic crisis means that no one over 70 is given medication (agent Harry Illingworth; Orenda world English). In Amanda Jennings' The Riptide, a woman chooses a controlling marriage over love and personal freedom, in order to atone for what happened one fateful night 16 years earlier (agent Broo Doherty; HQ UK).

Eva Bjorg Aegisdottir's The Creek on the Stair won the inaugural Blackbird Award for Icelandic crime-writing (agent David Headley; Orenda world English). The Lost Ones by Anita Frank is a debut about family tragedy, loss and redemption (agent David Headley; HQ world English; Dobrovsky Czech). In Coming Home to Winterland, Jo Thomas explores the breathtaking beauty of a remote Scottish island and an old house waiting to unlock enchanting family secrets (agent David Headley; Headline world English).

The Feldstein Agency Stations by Anthony Quinn charts the crime writer's journey as he attempts to rescue from oblivion two unsolved murders in the Irish Border parish of Killeeshil in South Tyrone (agent Paul Feldstein). Maria- Cristina Necula, author of Life in Opera, focuses on American singers in American Life in Opera, recording encounters with opera stars and winners of the Richard Tucker Award and Career Grants, and the Sara Tucker Study Grants (agent Paul Feldstein). The Musical Offering: Why the Musical Calling Matters by John Kennedy, a conductor and composer, is a meditation on the power of music and the pursuit of a musical life (agent Paul Feldstein).

Searching for a lost love some 50 years on, Luke Miller, his son, and grieving Sofia Rossi find so much more, in Anna's Shadow by Ingrid McCarthy (agent Paul Feldstein). The Stamp of Beauty by Irish journalist Fionola Meredith charts the course of an unlikely and deeply dysfunctional relationship between a young woman and a much older man (agent Susan Feldstein).

42 MP Hunting Killers is former police detective Mark Williams-Thomas' unflinching look into solving high-profile investigations (agent Eugenie Furniss; Transworld UK; Eksmo Russia). Shadow World by Patrick Alley is an environmental memoir that reads like a thriller, from one of the co-founders of Global Witness (agent Eugenie Furniss). McMafia meets Fatal Attraction in JL Butler's psychological thriller Alone, in which a lonely housewife is stalked after a one-night stand with a college sweetheart (agent Eugenie Furniss; HarperCollins UK; options in 13 territories).

Faith's Last Dance by Leslie Catlin is about an octogenarian who breaks free from her old people's home for the road trip of her life (agent Eugenie Furniss). In The Assistant by SK Tremayne, a journalist's home

www.bookbrunch.co.uk Design by: BDS Digital © BookBrunch Ltd. assistant gives her tomorrow's weather forecast, and adds: "I know what you did" (agent Eugenie Furniss; HarperCollins UK; Droemer Germany; Presses de la Cite France; Prometheus Netherlands; Editora 20/20 Portugal; Cappelen Damm Norway; Otava Finland; Czarna Owca Poland).

42 MP foreign rights handled by Alexandra Cliff at Rachel Mills Literary.

Greene & Heaton Twenty Questions for Jeanie Greene by Helen Fisher opens a world of second chances – do you believe in them? How much? And when, and how, should we let go of the past? (agent Judith Murray; UK Simon & Schuster; US Simon & Schuster/Gallery; Droemer Knaur Germany; Proszynski Poland; Edicoes ASA Portugal; Louise Backelin Sweden). Ian McGuire's The Abstainer intertwines the fates of head constable James O'Connor, fleeing from grief and drink in Dublin for a new start in Manchester, and that of Stephen Doyle, an Irish-American summoned to send a statement against British rule (agent Judith Murray; Scribner UK; Random House US; Cargo Netherlands; Einaudi Italy). Lottie Moggach's Brixton Hill is about Rob, on day work-release from prison, and becoming entangled with a woman with whom his meetings are far from accidental (agent Antony Topping; Corsair UK). Lost Property by Helen Paris tells the story of how Dot Watson, who works in Transport for London's lost property office at Baker Street, faces up to the legacy of betrayal her father left behind, and finds a way to be fully herself again (agent Judith Murray; Doubleday UK; DTV Germany). In The Others, artist, author and futurologist James Bridle argues that the only way for humanity to live better and thrive is through embracing non-human intelligence (agent Antony Topping). Gemma Milne, author of Smoke & Mirrors, argues for a redefinition of our aims based on a realistic understanding of trends in science and technology (agent Laura Williams; Robinson UK). AM Heath Years after a virus kills nearly the entire male population, Cole and her virus-resistant son go on the run from the authorities, and the worst person in the world - Cole's sister, in Afterland by Lauren Beukes (left; agent Oli Munson; Michael Joseph UK; Mulholland US). Alison Colwell tells the story of how she turned round a sink school in Those Who Can: The Diary of a Headteacher and a School in Crisis (agent Rebecca Ritchie). We Are Not in the World by Conor O'Callaghan follows a father and daughter as they journey through present-day France, confronting their recent pasts (agent Victoria Hobbs; Doubleday UK; Doubleday Ireland).

Hamnet is a new departure by Maggie O'Farrell: the story behind Shakespeare's most famous play (agent Victoria Hobbs; Tinder Press UK; Knopf US; Knopf Canada; Belfond France; Piper Germany; numerous further deals). Clinging to a man's bloodied body are the only two witnesses to the killing: his first wife, and the mistress who replaced her, each accusing the other of being the murderer, in Tess Stimson's The Ex-Wife (agent Rebecca Ritchie; Avon UK). Spies: An Intelligence History of the Cold War is by Calder Walton, Ernest May fellow in history & policy at Harvard (agent Bill Hamilton).

Sophie Hicks I Am an Island by Tamsin Calidas is an inspiring memoir about how Calidas left a high-flying London life to live alone for seven years on a remote Hebridean island (agent Sarah Williams; Doubleday UK; HarperCollins Germany). Eoin Colfer's first adult fantasy novel, Highfire, is a high-octane adventure about a vodka-drinking, Flashdance-loving dragon who's been hiding out from the world in a Louisiana bayou and whose peaceful life is turned upside down by a well-intentioned but wild Cajun tearaway and the crooked (and heavily armed)

www.bookbrunch.co.uk Design by: BDS Digital © BookBrunch Ltd. law officer who wants him dead (agent Sophie Hicks; QuercusUK; HarperCollins US; Heyne Germany; Flammarion France; Mondadori Italy). Fallen is the 10th novel in Benedict Jacka's bestselling urban fantasy series featuring the mage Alex Verus (agent Sophie Hicks; Little, Brown UK; Penguin Berkley US). From Desmond Elliott Prize nominee Andrew Meehan (right), The Mystery of Love is the unusual and moving love story of Constance Lloyd and Oscar Wilde (agent Sarah Williams; Head of Zeus UK). In The Shadow Mission by Shamim Sarif, Athena - a secret rogue agency dedicated to helping women whom governments don't care about - is on a dangerous mission to discover who is terrorising girls' schools in India that help teenagers to evade arranged marriages (agent Sophie Hicks; HarperCollins US; Longanesi Italy).

David Higham Associates The House Without Windows is a lost nature classic, written more than a century ago by Barbara Newhall Follett and now with illustrations by Jackie Morris (agent Jessica Woollard; Hamish Hamilton UK; Navona Spain). Dark family troubles and long-buried secrets emerge among a family at an old Cornish House in Lulu Taylor's A Midwinter Promise (agent Lizzy Kremer; Pan Macmillan UK). Irish-born journalist Megan Nolan's debut Acts of Desperation is an uncompromising story of a toxic relationship (agent Harriet Moore; Cape UK; Vulkan Serbia; Seix Barral Spain; further offers received). Owen Jones makes a call for change from the neoliberal consensus in The Alternative: And How We Build It (agent Andrew Gordon; Allen Lane world English; Ara Llibres Catalan; Hollands Diep the Netherlands; Laterza Italy; Umi-to-Tsukisha Japan; Bookinthegap Korea; Seix Barral Spain). The start of a new series, Body Language by AK Turner features Cassie Raven, a punk mortuary technician who is drawn into a dangerous investigation after being perturbed by an inconclusive autopsy (agent Jane Gregory; Bonnier Zaffre world English). Blue Ticket by Sophie Mackintosh is a sly, urgent enquiry into free will, social expectation and the fraught space of motherhood (agent Harriet Moore; Hamish Hamilton UK; Doubleday US; Penguin Random House Canada). Johnson & Alcock CK McDonnell's fantasy trilogy The Stranger Times, following the antics of a newspaper team dedicated to the paranormal suddenly forced to investigate supernatural forces, has been snapped up in six-figure deals in the UK (Transworld) and Germany (Eichborn), and at auction in Spain (Oz Editorial); there have been "multiple" film offers (agent Ed Wilson). Tyler Keevil's Your Still Beating Heart is an unsettling and poignant literary thriller set in Prague about an adrift woman hired to smuggle someone across the border and her decision to risk her life to save him (agent Becky Thomas; Myriad UK). Eleanor Wasserberg's The Light at the End of the Day is a sweeping novelabout a family forced to escape Krakow during the Holocaust (agent Ed Wilson; Fourth Estate UK).

Emily Bullock's The Beautiful Inside is a literary exploration of betrayal, love and sanity set in the Bethlem Hospital of the Insane in the 1800s (agent Ed Wilson; Everything with Words UK). Eleanor Crewes' self-published graphic coming-of-age memoir The Times I Knew I Was Gay is a "witty, honest and original" account made up of snapshots (agent Anna Power; Virago UK; Scribner US). Georgie Codd (left) describes how she faced her fears by becoming a scuba diver in We Swim to the Shark (agent Ed Wilson; Fleet UK). JULA

www.bookbrunch.co.uk Design by: BDS Digital © BookBrunch Ltd. Broken Greek is a coming of age memoir of chip shops and pop songs by music writer Peter Paphides (agent Jo Unwin; Quercus UK). Written by a man who was heavily involved in crime while growing up in London, Who They Was by Gabriel Krauze (right) is a lyrical novel exploring extreme violence and male friendship (agent Jo Unwin; 4th Estate UK). Daisy Cooper wasn't meant to die: a clerical error is behind it - and Death himself is to blame, in Daisy Cooper's Rules for Living by Tamsin Keily (agent Jo Unwin; Orion UK; Park Row US).

Jenny Colgan completes the bestselling Mure series with An Island Christmas (agent Jo Unwin; Sphere UK; William Morrow NA; Piper Germany; Luitingh Sijthoff Netherlands; Norstedts Sweden).

Kingsford Campbell A Duplicitous Life by Charlotte Philby is the second of three linked standalone espionage/domestic thrillers by the granddaughter of Kim Philby (agent Julia Silk; Borough Press UK). Maisie Hill's Period Power is "a profound but practical blueprint for aligning daily life with the menstrual cycle" (agent Julia Silk; Bloomsbury Green Tree UK; Gyldendal Norway; Fabbri Italy; Xander Netherlands; VAK Germany; Eksmo Russia; Literackie Poland). The Comeback by Ella Berman is a psychological exploration of a young actress raised in the spotlight under the influence of a charming and manipulative film director, and the moment when she decides his time for winning is over (agent Julia Silk; Berkley US). The Good Mental Health Buddy by Jen Wight offers down-to-earth, practical information about what - and what not - to do and say, and what to expect when supporting those we care about through a mental health crisis (agent Charlotte Atyeo). Solstice: Finding a Way Back to Nature by Jennifer Lane is a memoir about witchcraft, mental health and the natural world, following 12 months in nature through the eyes of a young witch (agent Charlotte Atyeo). Lady Garden: 12 Months of Joy, Despair and Hard Labour in One Woman's English Country Garden is a memoir by Rebecca Schiller, who hoped that moving to the countryside would offer her family freedom and simplicity in an uncertain world - but who found life on a smallholding nearly tipped her over the edge (agent Julia Silk). LBA Books Your five senses - hearing, listening, sight, taste and touch are all controlled by the brain, but what happens when the brain decides to no longer work with one of those senses? Betrayed By Your Brain by Guy Leschziner is 'a fascinating look at how the brain can betray and the shocking consequences when it does'. The UK publisher is Simon & Schuster, translation rights through ILA and the agent is Luigi Bonomi. The Curse of the Golden Hind by Mark Fiddes sees Wilf and Zara’s boring summer perk up when they discover that their uncle is the head of a secret government agency that polices time travel, and they are catapulted into a rescue mission that spans centuries. On submission; translation rights: ILA; agent: Luigi Bonomi.

In Who Did You Tell by Lesley Kara, Astrid is trying to turn her life around but someone knows exactly what Astrid is running from, and they won't stop until she learns that some mistakes can't be corrected. UK publisher: Transworld; US publisher: Ballantine Books; translation rights (handled by ILA): sold in Norway and the Czech Republic; agent: Amanda Preston. Fran has been waiting for Charles her whole life – is there anything she wouldn’t do for him? The Waiting Game is 'a new thriller from rising star Nicola Rayner about the dark heart of obsession'. The UK publisher is Avon, translation rights are through ILA and the agent is Louise Lamont. Also agented by Louise Lamont is The (Not-So) Secret Running Club by Katie Clapham, in which a running club brings together three girls – the Athlete, The Princess, and The Really Tall One - 'in an unexpected, life-changing friendship. Funny teen fiction for fans of Louise Rennison.' On submission.

www.bookbrunch.co.uk Design by: BDS Digital © BookBrunch Ltd. Lutyens & Rubinstein In Royals by Emma Forrest, 'shy, working class Steven meets glamorous, hedonistic heiress Jasmine in hospital, and his life is changed for ever'. According to David Nicholls, the novel is "charming, witty and touching, an Eighties Breakfast at Tiffany's@. UK rights to Bloomsbury, which publishes it at the end of October. Primary agent: Felicity Rubinstein. Julia Samuel's This Too Shall Pass: Stories of Change, Crisis and Hopeful Beginnings is the second book from the Sunday Times bestselling author and counsellor. 'Wise and compassionate, This Too Shall Pass at once provides a fascinating insight into the lives of others, and a manual for dealing with change.' UK: Penguin Life – March 2020. China: Penguin Random House China. Options elsewhere. MS available. Primary agent: Felicity Rubinstein. MBA HQ has commissioned a second volume of memoirs from Dr Amanda Brown, author of the Sunday Times bestseller The Prison Doctor. The new book again sees Dr Brown lifting the lid on the lives of her patients behind bars – this time focusing on the women she has encountered at Bronzefield, the largest women's prison in Europe. HQ will publish in June 2020. Playdate by Alex Dahl is published by Head of Zeus in July 2020; when her daughter is invited to stay over by a new friend at school, little does Elisabeth Blix know the tragedy and trauma that await: the child disappears with a family who did not exist. Set in Norway and rural France, the new novel by bestselling author of The Boy At The Door is 'a terrifying tale of loss, distorted memory and betrayal. Unputdownable.' Rosanna Ley's From Venice with Love is published by Quercus in March 2020 (WEL): shocked by her husband's betrayal, travel journalist Joanna returns to her childhood home in Dorset to take stock. The chance find of some forgotten love letters in the attic leads to a new journey: the letters reveal a world of passion connected to meetings in beautiful parts of Europe, including the most romantic of all: Venice. Escapist fiction from bestselling author of The Lemon Tree Hotel. When You Were Mine by Lisa Swift (pseudonym for bestselling author Mary Jayne Baker - left) is 'a feel-good, heart-warming novel for fans of Holly Martin and Heidi Swain'. Ibby and Maggie are an unconventional couple, bringing up teenager Amelia on the beautiful West Country coast, until a face from the past, in the form of hard- partying rock star Jordan Nash, disrupts their quiet lives. Recently published in UK by Hera, which has WEL rights. The Paris Girl by Natalie Meg Evans is published by Bookouture in October 2019 (WEL): Russian princess Tatiana Vytenis had nothing when she and her family arrived in Paris after escaping the Revolution; she has become a sought-after haute couture model and is engaged to a haughty aristocrat. But one night of madness changes everything. From the bestselling author of The Dress Thief. Sheila Bugler's new crime series launches with I Could Be You, set in the once fashionable seaside town of Eastbourne, and will be published by Canelo in January (in print and ebook, WEL). It features brilliant but unhappy journalist Dee Doran, who steps in when the murder of her neighbour, and disappearance of her young child, reveal a case of mistaken identity that foxes the local detectives. Photo by Sue Copeman, Missy Moo Photography The Marsh Agency The Future We Choose by Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac (on behalf of Idea Architects) is 'the defining book on the climate crisis that shows us how we can and will survive...a passionate call to arms, written by former UN Secretary for Climate Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac, her UN political strategist'. US: Knopf; UK: Bonnier. Rights sold: Dutch – UnieboekSpectrum, French - Albin Michel and Portuguese – Bertrand Editora. I Choose Elena is by Lucia Osborne-Crowley (on behalf of the Indigo Press, the UK publisher). 'Aged 15 and on track to be an Olympic gymnast, Osborne-Crowley was violently raped on a night out, sparking a series of events that left her devastatingly ill for more than 10 years of her life.

www.bookbrunch.co.uk Design by: BDS Digital © BookBrunch Ltd. Eventually finding solace in writers like Elena Ferrante, this is a work about rediscovering vulnerability and resilience.' Bill Bryson's The Body: A Guide for Occupants is published in the UK by Doubleday, and by Doubleday in the US & Canada. 'Full of extraordinary facts and astonishing stories, it is a brilliant, often very funny attempt to understand the miracle of our physical and neurological make up.' Rights sold in 24 languages. Nothing Can Hurt You by Nicole Maye Goldberg (on behalf of Watkins/Loomis Agency), published in the US by Bloomsbury and in the UK by Bloomsbury imprint Raven Books, is inspired by a true story, 'an electric literary thriller explores the aftermath of a college student’s death, and its reverberations through a chorus of interconnected lives'. Rebecca Solnit's Recollections of My Non-Existence (on behalf of Frances Coady, Aragi, Inc) published in the US by Viking and in the UK by Granta, is described as 'a landmark memoir from the author of Men Explain Things to Me. In 1981, Solnit rented a studio apartment in San Francisco that would be her home for the next 25 years and began to come to terms with the epidemic of violence against women around her, the street harassment that unsettled her, and the authority figures that routinely disbelieved her.' Rights sold in three territories. Rusty Brown by Chris Ware (on behalf of Aragi, Inc), published in the US by Pantheon and in the UK by Jonathan Cape, is 'a fully interactive, full-colour articulation of the time-space interrelationships of six complete consciousnesses on a single midwestern American day and the tiny piece of human grit about which they involuntarily orbit'. Dutch, French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese/Brazil rights sold.

Madeleine Milburn Another Life by Jodie Chapman is the story of 22-year-old Nick, who falls in love with passionate and feisty Anna over the course of one hot summer - but Anna’s strict religious beliefs seeks to divide them (agent Madeleine Milburn; to be submitted). Emma Stonex’s The Lamplighters is inspired by three lighthouse keepers who went missing in 1900 and were never found (agent Madeleine Milburn; Picador UK; Viking US; rights sold in Canada, Brazil, France, Netherlands, Italy). Greenwich Park by Katherine Faulkner is a sophisticated, female-led thriller about a woman whose life begins to unravel after she befriends a single mother (agent Madeleine Milburn; Raven UK; US under offer; Vulkan Serbia). The Reading List by Sareena Robinson is a book club novel that will appeal to fans of The Lido and The Authenticity Project, and tells the story of Mukesh and Aleisha, whose unlikely friendship blossoms in the library on Harrow Road (agent Hayley Steed; UK at auction; US on submission; Garzanti Italy). The Refrain by Ben Creed is a dark thriller set in 1950s Leningrad, where a murder investigation takes an ex musician - now a cop - back into the brutal heart of the Soviet classical music establishment (agent Giles Milburn; on submission UK; on submission US; Droemer Germany). Katherine May’s Wintering is “a starkly beautiful memoir about ways of surviving when life becomes frozen” (agent Hayley Steed; Ebury UK; Riverhead US).

Rachel Mills Literary Intrinsic: How To Reignite Our Inner Drive in a Rewards Obsessed World by Sharath Jeevan is a 'groundbreaking, practical smart-thinking book from the global pioneer in international developmentand motivational science'. On submission in the UK. In The CBD Bible: Cannabis and the Wellness Revolution That Will Change Your Life Dr Dani Gordon, doctor and government adviser on medical cannabis, cuts through the noise and outlandish claims to show what this new medicine can do for our health. UK and Comm rights sold at seven-way auction to Orion Spring, Canadian pre-empted by HarperCollins Canada, Polish (Kobiece). The Unexpected Joy of the Ordinary by Catherine Gray, the fourth title from the bestselling author, is on how

www.bookbrunch.co.uk Design by: BDS Digital © BookBrunch Ltd. to get off the 'hedonic treadmill' and find happiness in everyday things. World English: Aster Books (Hachette UK).

Drink: The New Science of Alcohol and Your Health by Professor David Nutt, neuroscientist, writer and speaker, takes us on a journey through the brain to see what alcohol really does. World English sold to Hodder. In The Miracle Pill: Why a Sedentary World Is Getting It All Wrong, journalist Peter Walker 'turns our understanding of exercise on its head'. World English rights pre-empted by Simon & Schuster, simplified Chinese rights to United Sky. F(r)eed: Why You Struggle with Food and How To Liberate Yourself by counsellor and heath journalist Lucy Fry is a book 'for anybody who wishes to be emancipated from their damaging or detrimental relationship with food'. On submission in the UK. MMB Creative Come Again by Robert Webb is the 'highly-anticipated debut novel by the no. 1 bestselling author of How Not To Be a Boy: a time-travelling story of love and adventure set in London, for fans of David Nicholls’ One Day. UK & Commonwealth rights: Canongate; agent: Ivan Mulcahy. Rachel Donohue's The Temple House Vanishing is a 'stunning mystery and a searing portrait of power, jealousy and desire, an extraordinary debut which follows the disappearance of a 17-year-old schoolgirl and her charismatic art teacher from an elite Catholic boarding school in 1990s Ireland; The Secret History meets Picnic at Hanging Rock.' UK & Commonwealth rights: Corvus; North America: Algonquin Press,at auction; agent: Ivan Mulcahy. The worldwide bestselling economist Ha-Joon Chang (left) has written a series of food stories that 'effortlessly morph into serious but accessible discussions of the most important economic issues of our time' – Eat Your Greens: Food Stories for the Reluctant Economist is economic wisdom in its most digestible form. Agent: Ivan Mulcahy

Kayti Christian's Blessed Are The Pure is a powerful, insightful literary memoir to appeal to readers of Educated and Three Women. It explores the author’s coming of age within America’s Evangelical Purity Movement and, through her marriage aged 20, the after-effects of this dangerous doctrine around shame and the body, and what happens once the forbidden fruit is no longer forbidden. Agent: Sallyanne Sweeney. Angry by Kelechi Okafor is an incisive, irreverent memoir and call to arms by the award-winning podcast host, actor and writer, exploring the trope of the Angry Black Woman, why we should all be angry, and how to harness that anger to effect positive change. Agent: Sallyanne Sweeney. Laura Morris Literary Agency (translation rights c/o Ampersand) Directed By: by David Thomson is a study of the history of film in terms of the role of directors. 'Thomson sees many factors in the authorship and ownership of films – these include collaboration, the power of money, and even the structure of the medium and the involvement of the audience.' The book is constructed as a series of set-piece examinations that include Fritz Lang, Luis Bunuel, Jean Renoir, Orson Welles, Alfred Hitchcock, Howard Hawks, Jean-Luc Godard, Quentin Tarantino and Jane Campion. Thomson is the author of The Biographical Dictionary of Film. UK & Comm rights sold to W&N, US and translation available.

Nick Salaman has had a long writing career, with 11 published novels, but Summer Shorts/Holiday Shorts is his first collection of short stories. 'From the austerities but simple joys of post-war Britain via a career in advertising and family life, to our current Brexit chaos, Salaman is a clear-eyed observer and chronicler of human foibles, relationships, rivalries, triumphs and tragedies. Full of unusual, vivid characters and

www.bookbrunch.co.uk Design by: BDS Digital © BookBrunch Ltd. delightful surprises, these are stories to be relished like delicious canapes.' The author has plans for a second volume, hence the alternative titles. World rights available.

Northbank Talent Management Christopher Harding's The Japanese is a millennium of Japanese history 'told through vivid, interconnected pen portraits of 20 of Japan’s most influential lives'. The agent is Martin Redfern, and Allen Lane has UK & Commonwealth rights ex Canada. The Killing in the Consulate by Jonathan Rugman, an award-winning Channel 4 News correspondent, is 'a chilling, page-turning account of the murder of Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul and the wider ramifications for global politics'. Agent: Martin Redfern; UK & Commonwealth ex Canada: Simon & Schuster; Film/TV rights: First LookProductions/Two Cities Television. Agatha Christie meets modern forensic science in Carla Valentine's (right) Murder Isn't Easy, a groundbreaking study from the author of Past Mortems. UK & Commonwealth ex Canada: Sphere; N America: Sourcebooks. Farah Cook's The Hunter's Wife sees a twisted relationship unfold in snowy Copenhagen after a couple’s car plunges off a bridge and the husband can’t be found. Can the wife unravel what happened that night, and is she to be trusted? Agent: Hannah Weatherill; on submission. In The Heart of the City by Elizabeth Dale is described as The Lido meets About A Boy: a grieving woman turns her back on her old life after tragedy strikes, but finds community, strength and friendship at a South London city farm. Agent: Hannah Weatherill; on submission. Thirty-three- year-old Niamh Kelly starts a new life in the Italian town of Camogli in The Italian Escape by Catherine Mangan. 'A tragedy threatens her new business, but with a long, hard look inside herself, and some help from her new-found community, can Niamh reinvent herself again and make her new life a success?' Agent: Hannah Weatherill; world English language rights: Sphere. Andrew Nurnberg Associates Sarah Pearse’s crime debut The Sanatorium is set in a former sanatorium in the Swiss Alps that cannot mask for long its dark history despite conversion into a luxury hotel (world English rights pre-empted by Transworld in a two-book deal, Greece – Psychogios, Netherlands – Ambo Anthos). Natasha Pulley’s third novel, The Lost Future of Pepperharrow, picks up where her debut, the international bestseller and Betty Trask winner The Watchmaker of Filigree Street, left off (world English rights – Bloomsbury). Leans Forward, Falls Back, Floats Really by Francesca Reece is described as 'a propulsive story of desire, power and the internalised male gaze, set between Paris and the South of France' (UK rights pre-empted by Tinder Press in a two-book deal). The Alibi Girl is CJ Skuse’s third adult thriller about a woman living under a series of alibis, which are starting to slip (UK – HQ). Oxford social historian Jonathan Healey’s debut The Blazing World is a history of England in the 17th century, 'a time of revolution when society was on fire and simultaneously forging the future'. (UK rights pre-empted by Bloomsbury). In Harro & Libertas, Norman Ohler, author of the international bestseller Blitzed, returns to the subject of Nazi Germany to tell the story of Harro and Libertas, the young couple at the heart of the largest German resistance group ever to oppose Hitler (Germany – Kiepenheuer & Witsch, US – Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; also sold in China, France, Italy, Netherlands and Portugal). Peake Associates Hilary Bonner’s new David Vogel mystery, Dreams of Fear, centres on the tragic death of Jane Ferguson, found hanging by the neck in the hallway of the family’s seaside home by Jane’s traumatised daughter, 6. It is assumed she took her own life. But police enquiries reveal evidence indicating that Jane has been murdered, and her businessman husband Felix, commodore of the local yacht club, becomes the chief suspect. World

www.bookbrunch.co.uk Design by: BDS Digital © BookBrunch Ltd. English rights: Severn House; translation rights: Peake Associates. PEW Literary David Bodanis' Can You Succeed Without Being A ****? The Art of Fairness in 10 Brief Lives is a 70,000-word exploration of 10 lives, both good and bad, examining whether you can be successful and good at the same time. Status: manuscript; agent: Patrick Walsh. The Book: A Story in Thirteen Extraordinary Lives by Professor Adam Smyth is a 'fascinating account of 13 remarkable book-maker's lives that come together to tell the bigger, overarching story of the history of the physical book itself from Oxford University’s Professor of English Literature'. A seven-way publisher auction is in progress in the UK; status: proposal; agent: Eleanor Birne. Bridget Prince's Human Witness is a private investigator’s memoir with a difference as Prince works in the world’s most dangerous places, tracking down the true stories of clients ranging from Somali pirates to Guantanamo detainees. Status: proposal; agent: Margaret Halton. Oxford University psychologist Professor Elaine Fox shows in Switchcraft how adaptability is the key to psychological health and success, and how to develop Switchcraft by mastering our contextual intelligence and psychological agility. Status: proposal; agent: Patrick Walsh. In Social Warming former Guardian technology correspondent Charles Arthur writes about how tech and social networks are overheating and dividing society, and what we can do about it. Status: proposal; agent: Doug Young. Red Sky at Dawn is by Mikhail Fishman, the ‘Jeremy Paxman of Russia’ and ex-editor of Moscow Times with an insider history, in Russian, of modern Russia through the life and murder of opposition politician Boris Nemtsov. Based on 250 interviews and four years’ research. Rights sold: Corpus Publishing, Moscow; status: proposal; agent: Patrick Walsh. PFD Andrew Ridgeley tells the story of his life in pop in Wham! George and Me (agent Tim Bates; Michael Joseph UK; Dutton US; HarperCollins Germany; Het Spectrum Netherlands). In Hope in Hell, environmentalist Jonathon Porritt argues that we have just a decade to avoid the most dire of all scenarios, but also explores the reasons to be hopeful (agent Annabel Merullo). Phoebe Wynne’s Madam is a modern gothic debut novel set in a girls’ boarding school (Quercus UK; St Martin’s Press NA). The Assyrians by Eckart Frahm, professor of Near Eastern languages and civilisations at Yale, is billed as the first narrative history book about Assyria for a general audience (agent Adam Gauntlett; Basic Books US). Love in Amsterdam is the novel in which Nicolas Freeling introduced Van der Valk, soon to return to our screens (agent Giulia Bernabè; Company Pictures TV; UK under negotiation; Lindhardt og Ringhof Denmark). Sheil Land The Small Hand by Susan Hill, agent Vivien Green, is a ghost story from the multi-million selling author of The Woman in Black, soon to be Christmas 'appointment viewing' on Channel 5. (UK & Commonwealth: Profile; US: Random House; Germany, France, Spain, Russia, Czech Republic,Holland). Diane Setterfield's (left) Once Upon a River, agent Vivien Green, is the Times' #1 bestseller from the author of the multi-million selling The Thirteenth Tale, about the devastating loss of a little girl and her eerie return. (UK: Transworld; US: Atria; Canada: Doubleday; Catalonia, China, Croatia, Czech, France, Germany, Greece, Holland, Italy, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russia, Spain, Taiwan and Ukraine). Black Widows by Catherine Quinn, agent Piers Blofeld, is an 'immediately involving thriller set in Utah, told through the alternating perspectives of three women, the wives of a murdered Mormon man, sold

www.bookbrunch.co.uk Design by: BDS Digital © BookBrunch Ltd. in a major UK auction'. (UK & Commonwealth: Orion; US: Sourcebooks; France, Italy, Holland, Slovenia). Janice Hallett's The Appeal, agent Gaia Banks, is described as 'a compulsive and original whodunit told entirely through emails and texts, which gradually exposes the chilling truth behind a fundraiser for a sick child'. (UK & Commonwealth: Viper/ Serpent’s Tail; Russia). The Missing Pieces of Nancy Moon by Sarah Steele, agent Gaia Banks, is 'the enchanting story of a woman who uncovers her unexpected family history in a box of dress patterns and retraces the footsteps of her lost great-aunt'. (UK: Headline Review; Germany, Italy). In Annie Stanley, All at Sea by Sue Teddern, agent Gaia Banks, 'a woman in the throes of grief "kidnaps" her father’s ashes and takes them on a tour of his beloved Shipping Forecast, meeting people from her past as she goes and discovering where her heart belonged all along'. (World rights: Mantle/Macmillan).

Caroline Sheldon Literary Agency The Hungry Road, by number 1 bestselling Irish author Marita Conlon-McKenna, 'opens in Ireland in 1845 as the Great Famine ravages the land. Based in the town of Skibbereen and drawing on contemporary records, it paints a vivid picture of three families as they fight for survival.' Published by Transworld in February. The new title in The Nightingale Girls series, Nightingale Wedding Bells by Donna Douglas, returns to 1917, when, as war rages on, wedding bells are finally ringing for the Nightingale nurses Anna, Grace and Dulcie. Published by Random House/Arrow this month; German, French and Czech rights sold. Fiona Gibson's When Life Gives You Lemons is coming from HarperCollins' Avon next March. It is described as a 'hilarious new novel from the author of Mummy Said the F-Word. When Vic’s husband leaves her, life as she knows it falls apart, but with a little help from her friends can she rebuild and show her daughter that old age doesn’t have to slow you down?' Brigid Coady's Emma Ever After + Persuading Austen (HarperCollins/HQ Digital, 2018) is a 'hilarious modern take on Emma that follows the titular Emma navigating the perils of show-business and celebrity matchmaking as her carefully ordered world begins to fall apart'. French rights sold; number 1 Amazon Mashups Bestseller in UK and USA. Snowdrops on Rosemary Lane by Ellen Berry is the latest title in the Rosemary Lane series. 'Overwhelmed and reeling from her husband’s death, Lucy must decide whether to stay at her B&B at Rosemary Cottage or give up her dream of a new beginning for her family.' Coming from HarperCollins' Avon in December; Danish and Italian rights sold in the series. Pearl of Pit Lane by Glenda Young is 'a powerful and romantic tale of tragedy and triumph from a stunning new voice in saga – rather than submit to the harsh life of the pit lane, Pearl leaves everything she knows, determined to survive on her own terms'. Published by Headline in November; Top 5 Amazon Saga Bestseller in UK.

United Agents Forever Human (previously Peter 2.0) by Peter Scott Morgan is a ground-breaking memoir by a robotics scientist with motor neuron disease who is working with tech firms such as Intel, Microsoft and Dell to develop a version of himself that will survive – and thrive – beyond the challenges of the disease. UK: Michael Joseph/Dan Bunyard; rights sold in six territories; agent: Rosemary Scoular. Remote Sypmpathy by Catherine Chidgey is set in 1930s Germany, where Dr Lenard Weber invents a machine he believes can cure cancer. When it fails, he packs it away, but years later, as a prisoner at Buchenwald, he is ordered to rebuild it. The only problem is that he knows the machine does not work. Or does it? 'A deeply moving page-turner from a multiple prize-winning author.' UK: under offer; agent: Caroline Dawnay. In Oana Aristide's Apocalypse Blue two very different narrative voices come together in the final pages of this thought-provoking debut about a deadly virus unwittingly released by melting permafrosts caused by climate change. Perfect for fans of Emily St John Mandel’s Station Eleven. UK: under offer; agent: Sophie Scard. Doll's Hospital by Antonia Honeywell (agent: Laura McDougall) sees 18-year-old Hannah thrust out of foster

www.bookbrunch.co.uk Design by: BDS Digital © BookBrunch Ltd. care and straight into a work placement at the Dolls’ Hospital, a faded relic owned and operated by the elderly Elsie Knight, who lives above the shop, alone and unnoticed. 'Heart- wrenchingand ultimately heart-warming, it’s about women from very different generations and the choices they are forced to make.' Honeywell was named one of Amazon’s Rising Stars of 2015 after her debut, The Ship, was published. UK: on submission; agent: Laura McDougall. Subject of a nine-publisher auction in the UK, Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson is 'a beautifully and lyrically written literary debut, speaking honestly about the experience of being young and black in London today. It explores big themes – of race, class, sexuality and masculinity among them.' UK: under offer; agent: Seren Adams. Dead Souls by Sam Riviere is a debut literary novel by the prize-winning poet and publisher. The unnamed narrator attends a gathering of poets at a Travelodge bar, where he meets Solomon Wiese, a disgraced poet, ostracized by the poetry community after failing to pass a technology- based authenticity test. 'In essence it is a novel about poets and is set in a world that is very familiar. Best of all perhaps, it is also very funny.' UK: under offer; agent: Anna Webber. Watson Little Paternity by Socrates Adams is literary suspense with a warm heart, featuring the travails of a young father whose child won’t sleep. On UK submission; agent: Donald Winchester. Mark Hanson and Peter Gluckman's Ingenious is 'smart-thinking non-fiction on human creativity, both a celebration as well as a warning about how we tend to get ahead of ourselves without considering the future costs and consequences; the invention of plastic, and of antibiotics, being particularly good examples'. Rights sold: world English: Harvard University Press; Arabic: Arab Scientific; agent: Donald Winchester. Alex Pavesi's Eight Detectives is 'a dazzlingly clever debut mystery novel about writer and mathematician Grant McAllister, whose early book claiming to crack the formula of the detective story is being republished by the sharp and ambitious editor, Julia, who spots a number of inconsistencies that might point to a mystery of her own'. The agent is James Wills, and rights have been sold in UK & BC: Michael Joseph; US: Flatiron Books and six other territories. In 'stunning speculative novel' The Drift by John Bleasdale, 'a terrifying disease affects every adult in the world with an extreme form of Alzheimer’s and only the young are immune - José Saramago’s Blindness meets The Lord of the Flies'. On UK submission; James Wills is the agent. Allegation by RG Adams is a 'debut outing for conversation-starting crime procedural featuring the formidable Welshsocial worker Kit Goddard, set in a small clifftop community. It’s his word against theirs.' TV rights acquired by producer John Giwa-Amu of Red & Black Films. Rights sold in UK & Commonwealth to riverrun; the agent is Laetitia Rutherford. In The Mind's Eye: The Making & Breaking of a Psychiatrist sees Dr Holan Liang (left), Great Ormond Street’s consultant child & young adult psychiatrist, take us on a guide, through her patient’s stories, of common mental health problems from the 'worried well' to the most extreme, arguing for how to understand others better, for self-care, and for a more equitable society, as good mental health at large starts with our relationships. On UK submission; agent Laetitia Rutherford. WME

www.bookbrunch.co.uk Design by: BDS Digital © BookBrunch Ltd. Longlisted for the National Book Award and New York Times bestseller, The Yellow House by Sarah M Broom is 'a brilliant and haunting memoir of place, class, race, the seeping rot of inequality, and the internalized shame that often follows'. US: Grove September 2019; UK: Little, Brown; principal agent: Suzanne Gluck. James Altucher is the author of bestsellers The Power of No and Choose Yourself. His latest book, Try This, will be 'the ultimate how-to on personal entrepreneurship and a no-bullshit guide to real productivity, outlining James’s proven strategies to execute ideas, to find the right collaborators, to negotiate, to be exceedingly memorable, and to scale projects to actually achieve work-life balance'. US: HarperCollins, early 2021; principal agent: Suzanne Gluck. Smacked: A story of white-collar ambition, addiction and tragedy by Eilene Zimmerman is an 'eye-opening memoir of a journalist piecing together the mysteries surrounding her ex-husband's life after his unexpected death from drug abuse as she also uncovers widespread substance use among white-collar professionals'. US: Random House, March 2020; principal agent: Tina Bennett.

Nobody Will Tell You This But Me by Bess Kalb is 'an unusual love story between Bess and her grandmother, unfolding in conversations between two remarkable women who are best friends and confidants, an unforgettable account of survival and family; of women’s lives across different generations'. US: Knopf, March 2020; UK: Little, Brown; principal agent: Erin Malone. Andrew Leland began losing his eyesight as a teenager, and as an adult he comes closer to full blindness with each passing year – with pathos, levity, and open-hearted curiosity, The Country of the Blind will explore his identity in transition. US: Penguin Press, pub date TBD; principal agent: Claudia Ballard. Emma Straub’s unique blend of humour, wisdom, and insight are in evidence in All Adults Here, 'a deeply satisfying story about parenting, siblings, growing older and all the small and the big things that leave their mark as we enter adulthood'. Straub is the New York Times bestselling author of three previous novels. US: Riverhead; May 2020; principal agent: Claudia Ballard. Photo by Alan Shemper

The Wylie Agency Apeirogon by Colum McCann is set in Jerusalem, and 'in a kaleidoscopic palimpsest scratched without end over an ancient city, it etches out a timeless question: how do we continue to live after the most precious thing is lost?' Rights sold to Bloomsbury in the UK and Random House in the US, plus six other territories. Deborah Levy's (left) The Man Who Saw Everything (longlisted for the 2019 Booker) is set in 1988. Saul Adler, a narcissistic young historian, has been invited to Communist East Berlin to do research; in exchange, he must publish a favorable essay about the German Democratic Republic. As a gift for his translator’s sister, a Beatles fanatic who will be his host, Saul’s girlfriend will shoot a photograph of him standing in the crosswalk on Abbey Road, a homage to the famous album cover. As he waits for her to arrive, he is grazed by an oncoming car, which changes the trajectory of his life. Rights sold to Hamish Hamilton in the UK and Bloomsbury in the US, plus 10 other territories. The Education of an Idealist is a memoir by Samantha Power, Harvard professor and former US Ambassador to the UN, which traces Power’s 'distinctly American journey from immigrant to war correspondent to presidential Cabinet official'. Rights sold to William Collins in the UK and Dey Street Books in the US, plus deals in Brazil and Holland. The Secret Guests is by Benjamin Black, aka Booker-winner John Banville. 'As London endures nightly German bombings, Britain's secret service whisks the princesses Elizabeth and Margaret from England, seeking safety for the young royals on an old estate in Ireland.' Viking Penguin has UK rights, Henry Holt US, plus deals in four European territories. In Salman Rushdie's Quichotte, an aging travelling salesman, obsessed with the ‘unreal real’ of TV, falls in impossible love with a queen of the screen and sets off to drive

www.bookbrunch.co.uk Design by: BDS Digital © BookBrunch Ltd. across America on a picaresque quest to prove himself worthy of her hand. Quichotte’s story is also the story of a deranged time, and deals, along the way, with father-son relationships, sibling quarrels, unforgivable things, racism, the opioid crisis, cyber-spies and science fiction. UK rights to Cape and US to Random House, plus deals in another 17 territories. In The Social Contract: What We Owe Each Other in the 21st Century, economist and LSE director Minouche Shafik examines how the current social contract is failing, and how it may be redesigned for a new century. Shafik offers a concise analysis of the challenges that beset the social contract and by focusing on a key element per chapter - childcare, education, ill health, the left behind of globalization - she takes a global perspective to explore what alternatives might be on offer. UK rights sold to the Bodley Head, US to Princeton University Press, and Chinese to CITIC. Barbara J Zitwer Agency A Trillion Tiny Awakenings by Candy Royalle was published last year in Australia by UWA Publishing. The author was one of Australia’s most prominent LGBTQIA+ performing writers, and died last year at only 37, months before this book was published. The author invokes tenderness and care in this startling book. The Disaster Tourist, by Ko-eun Yun is published by Hannah Westland at Profile Books next summer. The novel exemplifies Yun’s signature quirkiness and will appeal to readers who are drawn to creative imagery and unexpected plot elements, and the book engages with timely issues of workplace sexual harassment and ethical tourism. Emily Hayward Whitlock of the Artists Agency is selling film/TV rights. A million-copy bestseller, Seven Years of Darkness by You-jeong Jeong is to be published next summer by Little, Brown in the UK and Viking Penguin in the US. The novel follows the story of a young man (Seo-won) trying to figure out what happened one fateful night seven years ago, when his father opened the floodgates of a dam where he worked in security and caused an entire village to disappear. In Islamic States of America by Hassan Riaz, a decade has passed since the US lost the War on Terror, the Caliphate now rules America, and US insurgents are the terrorists. Film rights handled by Emily Hayward Whitlock of the Artists Partnership. Reasonable Doubt by Jin Kin Do is set in modern South Korea, a courtroom drama that explores themes of justice, morality, and vigilantism. Complex yet commercial, the book is 'perfectly plotted and neat as a pin'. Is a serial killer born or made? In The Only Child by Seo Mi Ae a little girl serial killer reveals herself slowly to her stepmother, a criminal psychiatrist. Published by Oneworld's Point Blank next spring; deals in six other territories including the US (Ecco Press). Film rights sold to Carnival Pictures.

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