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Deal of the Week
 Schulman’s ‘Survivors’ Goes Global
Swedish writer Alex Schulman sold his novel The Survivors to
Doubleday’s Lee Boudreaux in a high-six-figure preempt. Astri von
Arbin Ahlander at the Ahlander Agency, who represented Schulman, said the
book has been selling in auctions around the world and has been acquired in
18 territories. She described the book as “an extraordinary literary novel
with a jaw-dropping twist,” adding that it follows three brothers who have
returned to their family’s lakeside cottage—the site of a life-altering
disaster two decades earlier—to scatter their mother’s ashes. Told in dual
narratives, with “one timeline tracing backward from the story’s dramatic
finale and the other moving forward toward the inevitable moment of impact,” The
Survivors is about “the relationship between the siblings” and how their
“intimate bond of brotherhood opens them up for the greatest betrayal of
all.”
 St. Martin’s Is ‘Down’ with Fowler for Seven Figures
In a seven-figure deal, Sarah Cantin at St. Martin’s Press bought
North American rights to It All Comes Down to This by bestselling
author Therese Anne Fowler (A Good Neighborhood) in a two-book
agreement. The novel, Cantin said, is about “three adult sisters reckoning
with the aftermath of their mother’s death, and the fate of a vacation home
on Maine’s Mt. Desert Island—which her will mysteriously stipulates must be
sold.” Wendy Sherman at Wendy Sherman Associates represented Fowler.
 Gallery Appreciates Tucci’s ‘Taste’
Actor Stanley Tucci’s food memoir Taste: My Life Through Food
was acquired by Alison Callahan at Gallery Books. The book, Gallery
said, “will be an intimate and charming reflection of Tucci’s life and
relationship to food,” touching on how he prepared for culinary-focused films
like Big Night and Julie and Julia, his “falling in love over
dinner,” and his home life, “where he is constantly preparing meals with his
wife for their family.” Taste follows Tucci’s two other culinary
books, The Tucci Cookbook and The Tucci Table. He was represented
in the North American rights agreement by both Deborah Schneider at
Gelfman Schneider/ICM Partners and Felicity Blunt at Curtis Brown UK.
 Tor Takes on Yang’s Trilogy
Tor Books’ Lindsey Hall preempted world English rights to a science
fiction trilogy by Neon Yang, a Nebula, Hugo, and Lambda Literary
nominee who lives in Singapore. Yang was represented by DongWon Song
at the Howard Morhaim Literary Agency. The Nullvoid Chronicles, Tor said, is
“a retelling of Joan of Arc’s story with a space opera, giant robot twist”
and is about “the nature of truth, the power of belief, and the interplay of
both in the stories we tell ourselves.” The first book in the trilogy, The
Genesis of Misery, is set for 2022.
 Lemon’s ‘Fire’ Burns for LB
Don Lemon’s This Is the Fire was acquired by Little, Brown’s Bruce
Nichols. Byrd Leavell and Albert Lee at United Talent
Agency brokered the North American rights agreement. LB compared the title to
recent bestsellers about race by Ta-Nehisi Coates and Ibram X. Kendi, and
said that in it, Lemon brings his “vast audience and experience as a reporter
and as a Black man to one of the most urgent questions we face: how can we
end racism in America in our lifetime?” This Is the Fire is set for
March 2021.
 Children's/YA Deals Roundup
New projects this week include The World Ends Here and a second
untitled novel by Rory Power (pictured), author of the bestselling Wilder
Girls, a speculative thriller following ex-girlfriends raised at a
remote, icy research institute, and what happens when they uncover the
nightmarish discovery that their families are protecting there; Mirror
Girls by Kelly McWilliams (Agnes at the End of the World),
a YA novel set in a haunted rural Georgia in 1959, which follows biracial
twin sisters, separated in infancy, who reunite as teenagers to solve the
mystery of their parents' death; and Out Alive by internet personality
and podcast host David Olshanetsky, a coming out of the closet manual
for the digital generation.
 Sourcebooks, Audible Nab a Rom-Com
Mary Altman at Sourcebooks and Allison Carroll at Audible
Originals have won world English rights, for print/digital and audio,
respectively, to three books by Lily Chu, including her debut rom-com,
The Stand In. The deals were brokered by Carrie Pestritto at
the Laura Dail Literary Agency. Audible, which paid six figures, is set to
release The Stand In as an Audible Original in spring 2021, and
Sourcebooks will follow with its print edition in 2022. The novel, Pestritto
said, follows an American teen, Gracie Reed, who is paid to impersonate a
Chinese starlet who is one half of a celebrity couple. As Gracie does the
job, she “realizes that she may not be able to keep up her end of the deal
without losing her heart.”
 Custom House Adopts Grose’s ‘Mother’
For six figures, Custom House’s Kate Nintzel bought North American
rights to Jessica Grose’s All Powerful and Totally Useless: The
Creation of the Ideal American Mother. The author is a parenting editor
and columnist at the New York Times, and the book, Custom House said,
“examines the historical, scientific and cultural ideals of parenting—and how
they don’t serve us—through the lens of the author’s personal and
professional experience.” Grose was represented by Elisabeth Weed at
the Book Group.
 Hargrove’s ‘Mama’ Comforts Algonquin
Amy Gash at Algonquin bought Mama: A Black, Queer Woman’s Journey
to Motherhood by Nikkya Hargrove in a world rights agreement. Stacey
Glick at Dystel, Goderich & Bourret represented the author, who, she
said, grew up with a mother who was in and out of prison while battling an
addiction to crack cocaine. When Hargrove was 25 years old, her mother died
and she fought to gain custody of her baby brother. The book, Glick added,
“picks up where Bryan Stevenson’s Just Mercy left off, following the
impact of incarceration on a family and pulling back the curtain on the
foster care system.” Hargrove has written for Cosmopolitan, the New
York Times, and the Washington Post.
 Dutton Buys McFadden Memoir
Maya Ziv at Dutton bought world rights to Bernice McFadden’s
memoir First Born Girls. McFadden, who has written 10 novels,
including Sugar and the 2017 American Book Award winner The Book of
Harlan, teaches creative writing at Tulane University. First Born
Girls, Dutton said, “covers three generations of Black women in America,
the impact of inherited trauma and family secrets, and the insistent demands
of love between mothers and daughters.” Melissa Danaczko at the Stuart
Krichevsky Literary Agency represented McFadden.
 Bestler Invests in Polish Bestseller
For her eponymous imprint at Simon & Schuster, Emily Bestler
bought two books by Polish bestseller Blanka Lipinska in a North
American rights agreement. The first, 365 Days, is part of trilogy and
the basis of a Netflix film of the same name that was released in June.
S&S said the novel is about “a young woman taken captive by a Mafia don
with the intention that she will fall in love with him after they spend 365
days together.” 365 Days is set for January 2021, with its sequel, This
Day, slated for 2022. According to S&S, Lipinska has sold more than
1.5 million copies of her books in Poland. She was represented by Kimberly
Whalen at the Whalen Agency.
 Kurian Sells Thriller to Park Row
At auction, Park Row Books’ Laura Brown won North American rights, for
six figures, to Vera Kurian’s Never Saw Me Coming. The debut
psychological thriller, which is set at a Washington, D.C., college and told
in alternating perspectives, is slated for fall 2021. It follows a group of
undergraduates who have all exhibited signs of psychopathy and who join an
experimental study on campus. The situation, Park Row said, “starts to
unravel when one of the program students is found murdered.” Kurian was
represented by Rebecca Scherer at the Jane Rotrosen Agency.
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Deal of the Week
 May’s Debut Draws Seven Figures
In a seven-figure deal, Custom House’s Katherine Nintzel bought North
American rights to Wahala by Nikki May in a two-book agreement.
The publisher said the debut novel was acquired by Doubleday Books in the
U.K. It was pitched “as Sex and the City meets My Sister the Serial
Killer” and follows “three 30-something Anglo-Nigerian women in London
whose lives are blown apart when a glamorous friend from their past
reappears.” The author, who was born in England and raised in Nigeria, was
represented by Catherine Cho at London’s Madeleine Milburn Literary
Agency. May ran an ad agency in the U.K. before becoming a full-time writer.
 Maines’s Memoir Goes to Dial
Transgender activist and actress Nicole Maines sold a currently
untitled memoir to Dial Press. Caitlin McKenna took world rights to
the book from Lauren MacLeod and Wendy Strothman at the
Strothman Agency. Maines’s book, Dial said, aims “to correct some of the most
insidious messaging absorbed by queer kids and all young women—from the idea
that any one thing can (or should) ever really ‘fix’ you to wondering what’s
wrong with you when things don’t always feel better—by providing an intimate
look at her life and all the lessons she’s learned along the way.”
 Morrow Buys Wedge’s ‘Slam’
Journalist and true crime author Dave Wedge sold a book about longtime
ATF agent Ken Croke’s infiltration of an outlaw motorcycle gang to
William Morrow. Matt Harper took North American rights to Slam:
Taking Down the Notorious Pagan Motorcycle Club for six figures. Peter
Steinberg at Foundry Literary + Media, who sold the book, said Croke
spent two years infiltrating the Pagan Motorcycle Club (which was a rival of
the Hells Angels), and that during this period he “led a heart-pounding,
dangerous double life faking drug use, living with killers, even going to
jail while remaining undercover.” Wedge, a former investigative reporter at
the Boston Herald, is the author of Boston Strong: A City’s Triumph
over Tragedy (which was adapted into the film Patriots Day).
 Children's/YA Deals Roundup
New projects this week include The Beatryce Prophecy, a fantasy novel
by two-time Newbery Medalist Kate DiCamillo (pictured) and two-time
Caldecott Medalist Sophie Blackall, a tale of fate, love, and the
power of words, in a medieval setting; Last Gate of the Emperor, an
Afro-Futurist middle grade Black Panther-esque novel set in a mythical
Ethiopia, kicking off a new series, written by Tristan Strong author Kwame
Mbalia and Prince Joel Makonnen, the great-grandson of the real
Ethiopia's last emperor; and a picture book by Grammy Award-winning music
artist Lil Nas X's (l.) C Is for Country, an alphabet
illustrated by Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Award winner Theodore
Taylor III.
 Cervantes Closes Double at Auction
After a seven-house auction, Razorbill’s Julie Rosenberg bought world
English rights to J.C. Cervantes’s YA novel Flirting with Fate
in a two-book deal. Holly Root at Root Literary represented Cervantes.
The second book is a currently untitled novel. Root said Flirting with
Fate is an L.A.-set contemporary romance that “introduces three
hilarious, tight-knit sisters; the ghost of their dearly departed
grandmother; and a fifth-century saint charged with aiding them in setting
their fate right.” The novel is set for 2021.
 Newman Lands at Scribner
Former Oprah.com editor Leigh Newman sold two books to Kathy Belden
at Scribner. The first, Nobody Gets Out Alive, is her debut short
story collection and, Belden said, is set in Alaska. It features tales of
“women living the kind of frontier life we associate with men.” The second
book, The Survivalists, is Newman’s debut novel and follows a family
who discover that a survivalist squatter has taken up residence near their
remote cabin in Alaska. Nicole Aragi at Aragi Inc. represented Newman
in the North American rights agreement.
 Chopra Hits ‘Peak’ at Crown
Deepak Chopra sold Peak Living: The Hidden Path to Abundance to
Diana Baroni at Crown for a rumored seven figures. The world rights
agreement was brokered by Robert Gottlieb at Trident Media Group.
Gottlieb said the book “offers a step-by-step solution to stripping away
unnatural feelings of self-doubt and fear, so we can instead embrace our
natural state of abundance and tap into real happiness and wealth.”
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Deal of the Week
 Scribner to Publish Osnos on Biden
New Yorker staff writer and National Book Award winner Evan Osnos
sold a book on Joe Biden to Scribner. Colin Harrison acquired North
American rights to Joe Biden: The Life, the Run, and What Matters Now
from Jennifer Joel at ICM Partners. It’s adapted from profiles of
Biden that Osnos wrote for the New Yorker. Set for October 27, the
book will, Harrison said, be “a nuanced and deeply reported portrait of Joe
Biden” and will explore “his political sojourn after being passed over for
Hillary Clinton in 2016, his decision to challenge Donald Trump for the
presidency, and his choice of Kamala Harris as his running mate.”
 Dawson Launches MG Series at First Second
After a seven-house auction, Mark Siegel at First Second bought Mike
Dawson’s The 5th Quarter for six figures. The world rights,
two-book agreement was brokered by Gordon Warnock at Fuse Literary.
Warnock said the book by the Ignatz Award–winning cartoonist is the first
entry in a planned middle grade graphic novel series that he pitched as “Roller
Girl meets Real Friends with a dash of Rip and Red.” The series,
he added, grapples with “identity, friendship, and self-esteem in the world
of preteen girls’ basketball.” The 5th Quarter is set for May 2021.
 Flatiron Travels Back to Zhang’s ‘Idaho’
Caroline Bleeke at Flatiron Books preempted Jenny Tinghui Zhang’s
debut novel, Five Chinese Hanged in Idaho. The University of Wyoming
MFA graduate was represented by Stephanie Delman at Sanford J.
Greenburger Associates in the North American rights agreement. The book is
set in the American West circa the 1880s against the backdrop, Delman
explained, of the Chinese Exclusion Act (an 1882 law barring most Chinese
citizens from immigrating to the U.S.). The novel follows “a Chinese girl who
is forced to reinvent herself as three different people in order to survive.”
 Children's/YA Deals Roundup
New projects this week include Mystiquiel by A.G. Howard (pictured),
author of the Splintered Series and RoseBlood, which kicks off a YA fantasy
duology in which on Halloween night, Phoenix Loring, still haunted by the
death of her identical twin, steps through a portal leading to a gloomy
industrial dreamscape of goblins and faeries; Kosoko Jackson's (A
Place for Wolves) second novel, All Kingdoms Must Fall, pitched as
Attack the Block meets Internment for the Black Lives Matter
movement; and Opposite of Always and Early Departures author justin
a. reynolds's It's the End of the World and I'm in My Bathing Suit,
a middle-grade novel about a boy who has nothing left to wear but swim trunks
after his plan to avoid doing laundry backfires.
 Armstrong Lets her ‘Light’ Shine at Putnam
Putnam’s Tara Singh Carlson preempted 22-year-old Addison Armstrong’s
debut novel in a two-book, world rights deal. Set for summer 2021, The
Light of Luna Park follows, Putnam said, “a 1920s New York City nurse who
chooses to save a premature baby’s life, risking her career and reputation in
the process, and a young teacher in 1950 who discovers that the past is not
as immutable as we think.” Melissa Danaczko at the Stuart Krichevsky
Literary Agency represented Armstrong.
 TV Writer-Producer Sells Debut
Stephen Lloyd, who was an executive producer on TV’s Modern Family,
sold his debut novel in a preempt to Mark Tavani at Putnam. Fallen
is, the publisher said, a “noir and horror mash-up centered on an insurance
investigator with PTSD who is sent to an elite prep school when a priceless
book is stolen.” The book, sold by Richard Abate at 3 Arts
Entertainment, is scheduled for 2022.
 Phillip Details Jackson’s ‘Dream’
The Dream Deferred, about Jesse Jackson’s 1988 run to become the
Democratic nominee for president, was acquired by Zachary Wagman at
Flatiron Books. The book, by CNN political corredpondent Abby Phillip,
is subtitled Jesse Jackson, Black Political Power, and the Year that
Changed America. Flatiron said it explores how Jackson’s “populist
message and his coalition of women, young people, and people of color became
the standard for future successful Democratic campaigns.” Matt Latimer
and Keith Urbahn at Javelin sold world rights to the book, which is
slated for summer 2022.
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Deal of the Week
 Nobel Laureate Lands at Oprah Imprint
With a six-figure preempt, Bryn Clark at Flatiron’s An Oprah Book
imprint bought Nobel laureate Denis Mukwege’s The Power of Women.
Susanna Lea at Susanna Lea Associates brokered the world English
rights agreement. The nonfiction book by the Congolese gynecological surgeon
examines, Flatiron said, “what humanity can learn from the stories of women
who have endured sexual violence, how we can begin to prevent indifference
within our communities, and the role global leadership can take in moving
forward.” The Power of Women is slated for a 2021 publication.
 U.K. Editor’s Debut Snapped Up by Holt
Kasim Ali’s debut novel, Good Intentions, was nabbed in a
preempt by Holt. North American rights to the title were bought by Barbara
Jones and Ruby Rose Lee on the heels of what the Macmillan imprint
described as a “heated auction” in the U.K., where the book sold to Fourth
Estate. Ali, a 25-year-old assistant editor at Penguin Random House UK, was
represented by Juliet Pickering at the London-based shingle Blake
Friedmann. The book follows a young British man of Pakistani descent who,
Holt said, “has kept his relationship with a Black woman secret from his
family for far too long and is caught at a breaking point.” It offers “a
brilliant and overdue new perspective on millennial relationships in the face
of racism and immigrant obligation.” Good Intentions is set for spring
2022.
 McKenzie Does Double at Atria
Atria’s Kaitlin Olson took world English rights to two new novels by You
Can’t Catch Me author Catherine McKenzie. The first book is titled
Six Weeks to Live and follows, Atria said, a woman with a devastating
cancer diagnosis who “comes to believe she may have been poisoned, casting
suspicion on her estranged husband, adult triplets, and even herself.” The
second book, Please Join Us, is about, the publisher explained, “a
midcareer lawyer who joins a secretive women’s career development group and
soon suspects its members may have more sinister intentions.” The deal was
brokered by Abigail Koons at Park & Fine Literary and Media. You
Can’t Catch Me was recently optioned by Paramount Television Studios.
 Children's/YA Deals Roundup
New projects this week include The Upper World by Femi Fadugba
(pictured), a debut YA novel about a teen boy from south London, caught up in
a deadly feud when he slips through to a world where he can see glimpses of
the past and the future; Three Kisses, One Midnight, a Halloween
collaboration by Roshani Chokshi, Sandhya Menon, and Evelyn
Skye, told in the tradition of Let It Snow, featuring
interconnected stories about three witchy best friends and their romantic
quests; and Ace of Spades, a debut YA thriller by Faridah
Àbíké-Íyímídé, pitched as Gossip Girl meets Get Out, which
takes place at a private school where a mysterious source spreads rumors
about two of the very few Black students, who must not only fight for their
reputations but also for their lives.
 Atria Haunts Fawcett’s ‘Octagon House’
In another Atria deal, editor Loan Le preempted world rights to Jennifer
Fawcett’s The Octagon House. Le compared the book to fiction by
Jennifer McMahon and the Netflix series The Haunting of Hill House.
It’s about a woman who returns to her hometown following her friend’s
attempted suicide in a local haunted house, where, Le said, “a traumatic
incident shattered their lives 20 years ago.” She added, “It’s a story about
not only supernatural hauntings, but also the trauma and pain that haunt us
from childhood to adulthood.” Victoria Marini at Irene Goodman
represented Fawcett.
 Booker Nominee Crosses Pond to B’bury
Daniel Loedel at Bloomsbury preempted North American rights to the
Booker-longlisted novel Who They Was by Gabriel Krauze. Sally
Harding at CookeMcDermid brokered the sale on behalf of Jo Unwin at
Jo Unwin Literary. The autobiographical novel, Bloomsbury said, is “written
in a unique lyrical slang” and unpacks the life of “a young man straddling
two cultures: the university where he is studying English literature and the
disregarded world of London gang warfare.”
 Hogarth Takes Khabushani’s Debut
Our New Names, the debut novel by Khashayar Joshua Khabushani,
was acquired at auction by Hogarth’s Parisa Ebrahimi. Bill Clegg
at the Clegg Agency sold North American rights. The book, Hogarth said, is
“about the powerful bonds that make and break an Iranian American family, and
the journey a son must make in order to find his place in the world.”
Khabushani has an MFA from Columbia.
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