RIGHTS GUIDE LONDON BOOK FAIR SPRING 2015

RIGHTS GUIDE
LONDON BOOK FAIR
SPRING 2015
March 27, 2015
Emma Sweeney
Emma Sweeney Agency, LLC
245 East 80th Street, Suite 7E
New York, NY 10075
Dear Colleagues,
Enclosed in this guide are new and recently
published ESA titles as well as some selections from our
backlist. If you would like to receive more information
about any of the titles provided, please feel free to contact
Kira Watson ([email protected]) or me. The
list of our foreign co-agents can be found on the last page
of this guide.
Wishing you all a very happy LBF! And here’s to spring!
Best wishes,
Emma Sweeney
[email protected]
1
CONTENTS
NEW TITLES
Fiction:
The Night Horse by Jonis Agee
And After The Fire by Lauren Belfer
Twain’s End by Lynn Cullen
Terrible Virtue by Ellen Feldman
At The Water’s Edge by Sara Gruen
Dead at Breakfast by Beth Gutcheon
Strangers in Budapest by Jessica Keener
French Muse by Elizabeth Oberbeck
The Given World by Marian Palaia
Just Fall by Nina Sadowsky
Security by Gina Wohlsdorf
Nonfiction:
The Ring of Truth by Wendy Doniger
Heirloom Harvest by Amy Goldman
9 ½ Narrow by Patricia Morrisroe
Putin: A Biography by Phillip Short
Hampton Roads by Richard Snow
The Infinite View by Ellen Tadd
RECENTLY PUBLISHED
Fiction:
The Thinking Woman’s Guide to Real Magic by Emily Croy Barker
The Supernatural Enhancements by Edgar Cantero
Mrs. Poe by Lynn Cullen
The Unwitting by Ellen Feldman
Women in Bed by Jessica Keener
Three Bargains by Tania Malik
Above by Isla Morley
Before I Go by Colleen Oakley
In the Shadow of the Banyan by Vaddey Ratner
Nonfiction:
The Ogallala Road by Julene Bair
My First Coup D’état by President John Mahama
I Invented the Modern Age by Richard Snow
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ESA CLIENTS
Jonis Agee
Anita Amirrezvani
Axios Press
Julene Bair
Heather Barbieri
Emily Croy Barker
Andrew Beahrs
Lauren Belfer
Janet Burroway
Edgar Cantero
Stephanie Cowell
Lynn Cullen
Ann Darby
Elizabeth Dewberry
Wendy Doniger
David Dosa, MD MPH
Ellen Feldman
Alex George*
Amy Goldman
John Gribbin*
Mary Gribbin*
Sara Gruen
Beth Gutcheon
Rick Hamlin
Rosalie Ham@
Jessica Keener
Jim Kelly#
Jerry Leiber & Mike Stoller
Stephanie Lehmann
David Samuel Levinson
Penelope Lively*
H.E. John Mahama
Tania Malik
Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche
Isla Morley
Patricia Morrisroe
Colleen Oakley
Elizabeth Oberbeck
Marian Palaia
Lara Pizzorno, MA, LMT
Vaddey Ratner
Craig Russell*
Nina Sadowsky
Jane Sanderson*
Helen Scales
Sandra Scofield
Katherine Sharpe
Philip Short*
Richard Snow
Eric Swanson
Ellen Tadd
Tsoknyi Rinpoche
Gina Wohlsdorf
Carol Wallace
Bernard Wasserstein*
* David Higham client
# Faith Evans client
@ Jenny Darling client
= ESA holds foreign and/or translation rights
3
NEW TITLES
4
JONIS AGEE
THE NIGHT HORSE
US & Canada: Harper /Ms Avaliable August 2015
Set in the years immediately following the massacre at Wounded
Knee, THE NIGHT HORSE presents a breathtaking view
of turn-of-the-century life in the ranchland of western Nebraska,
where the perils of weather and terrain collide with the excesses of
human depravity. The senseless murders of a white rancher and a
young Native American woman reveal dark secrets and the sheer
horror of past atrocities. Two remarkable characters anchor this
wrenching tale: Dulcinea, a gritty pioneer woman struggling for
redemption, and Rose, the sister of the murdered woman, who won’t
rest until the killer is brought to justice. Agee’s eye for the harsh
landscape and the hard people who work the land has never been
more precise. A big, sprawling novel in the tradition of Phillip
Meyer’s The Son, THE NIGHT HORSE offers a diverse cast of
misfits, chancers, and dreamer, hell-bent on settling the West.
Jonis Agee has been praised by the NYTBR
as "a gifted poet of that dark lushness in the
heart of the American landscape" and her
talents are clearly on display in her new
novel. Jonis is the author of twelve booksm
three of which were New York Times
Notable Books of the Year. Her awards
include a National Endowment for the Arts
grant in fiction; a Loft-McKnight Award; a
Loft-McKnight Award of Distinction; and
two Nebraska Book Awards.
5
LAUREN BELFER
AND AFTER THE FIRE
US & Canada: Harper / March 2016/ Ms available May 2015
A novel of sweeping historical scope and searing personal discovery,
AND AFTER THE FIRE revolves around a woman who
discovers a long-lost Bach cantata. Yet her discovery is only the latest
chapter in a dramatic tale that extends back through WWII Germany
to the Enlightenment, and links her to a Berlin salonnière, pianist,
and contemporary of Bach and Mendelssohn—and to the startling
truth about her own past.
Lauren Belfer’s debut novel, City of Light,
was a New York Times bestseller, as well
as a number one Book Sense pick, a Barnes
& Noble Discover Award nominee, a New
York Times Notable Book, a Library
Journal Best Book, and a Main Selection of
the Book-of-the-Month Club. City of
Light was a bestseller in Great Britain and
has been translated into seven languages.
Her second novel, A Fierce Radiance,
was named a Washington Post Best Novel
of 2010 and an NPR Best Mystery of 2010.
Belfer's fiction has also been published in
the Michigan Quarterly Review, Shenandoah, and Henfield Prize
Stories. Her nonfiction has appeared in the New York Times Book
Review, the Washington Post Book World, the Christian Science
Monitor, and elsewhere.
6
LYNN CULLEN
TWAIN’S END
US & Canada: Gallery / Oct 2015
From national bestseller Lynn Cullen, a novel that chronicles the
three day period in January 1909 when Mark Twain hosts Helen
Keller, her teacher, and her teacher's husband, at Twain's new
mansion in Connecticut. Twain's daughter joins them, fresh from an
affair with a married man, and challenges her father to admit to an
affair he has been having with his secretary. The result is an
emotionally charged weekend no one will soon forget. A lead title for
Gallery, TWAIN’S END follows the enormous success of Cullen’s
MRS POE, which sold over 100k copies and has been sold in nine
countries.
Rights sold to:
Brazil: Editora Record
Lynn Cullen’s most recent novel, Mrs Poe
(Gallery, 2013, pb 2014), was a national
bestseller, and was optioned by Frances
Fisher for film/TV rights. She is also the
author of numerous award-winning books
for children, including the young adult novel
I Am Rembrandt's Daughter, which was a
2007 Barnes & Noble “Discover Great New
Writers” selection, and an ALA Best Book
of 2008, The Creation of Eve (Putnam,
2010), which was an Indie Next Pick, and
Reign of Madness (Putnam, 2011) which was shortlisted for the
Townsend Prize.
See our Selected Backlist for more information on option publishers.
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ELLEN FELDMAN
TERRIBLE VIRTUE
US & Canada: Harper / Spring 2016 / Ms available now
The focus of Ellen Feldman’s new novel is Margaret Sanger, the
rights activist credited with forcing legalization of birth control in the
United States. Tremendously charismatic—a sort of “glorious
monster”—Sanger was sexually quite active (her lovers included H.G.
Wells and Havelock Ellis). While she accomplished a number of
remarkable feats, including the foundation of the first birth control
clinic staffed by all-female doctors and a clinic in Harlem staffed
entirely by African-Americans, her achievements often came at the
expense of those she loved best. In TERRIBLE VIRTUE
Feldman offers a novel that is both historically fascinating and
emotionally compelling.
Ellen Feldman, a 2009 Guggenheim
fellow, is the author of The Unwitting,
The Boy Who Loved Anne Frank,
Lucy, and Scottsboro, which was
shortlisted for the Orange Prize. She
grew up in northern New Jersey and
attended Bryn Mawr College, from
which she holds a B.A. and an M.A. in
modern history. After further graduate
studies at Columbia University, she
worked for a New York publishing
house. Feldman lives in New York City and East Hampton, New
York, with her husband and their Cairn terrier named Lucy. She is
the author of Next to Love (Spiegel & Grau, 2011).
See our Selected Backlist for more information on option publishers.
8
SARA GRUEN
AT THE WATER’S EDGE
US & Canada: Spiegel & Grau / March 31, 2015
Film/television rights: Joel Gotler: [email protected]
Indie Pick for April! #1 April Library Reads pick!
“Riveting…Gruen’s beautiful setting and deeply sympathetic characters ensure a
memorable read for new and returning fans alike.”
—Publishers Weekly
In this gripping and poignant new novel,
Sara Gruen again demonstrates her talent for
creating spellbinding period pieces. Madeline
Hyde, a young socialite from Philadelphia,
reluctantly follows her husband and their
best friend to the tiny village of
Drumnadrochit in search of the Loch Ness
monster—at the same time a very real
monster, Hitler, wages war against the Allied
forces. As German warplanes fly overhead
and food rations are scarce (and nylons
scarcer), Maddie’s eyes are opened—through
unlikely friendships she develops with the
villagers—not only to the dark forces that exist around her, but to the
beauty and surprising possibilities there as well.
UK: Two Roads/Hodder
Brazil: Editoria Bertrand
Estonia: Tapanaeva
Holland: Querido
Poland: Dom Wydawniczy
Spain: Grupo Planeta
Rights sold to:
ANZ: Allen & Unwin
Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden: Bazar
Germany: Rowholt
Israel: Kinneret
Russia: Exmo
Turkey: Epsilon
Sara Gruen is the author of the award-winning, #1 best-selling novel Water
for Elephants. Her other books include Riding Lessons (HarperTorch
2004), Flying Changes (HarperTorch, 2005) and Ape House (Spiegel &
Grau, 2010), a New York Times Bestseller.
9
BETH GUTCHEON
DEAD AT BREAKFAST
US & Canada: Harper / Fall 2016 / Ms available Sept 2015
Internationally renowned author Beth Gutcheon breaks new ground
with a mystery series featuring a pair of sleuths named Hope and
Maggie. The first book in the series, DEAD AT
BREAKFAST finds the pair at a rustic Maine inn, happily
enrolled in a cooking class. Murder turns up on the menu, however,
when a fellow guest—a reviled Hollywood producer—is found dead,
and soon the pair are embroiled in uncovering the killer.
Beth Gutcheon was educated at Harvard.
She has spent most of her adult life in New
York City. In 1978, she wrote the narration
for a feature-length documentary on the
Kirov ballet school, The Children of
Theatre Street, which was nominated for an
Academy Award, and she has made her
living fulltime as a storyteller (novelist and
sometime screenwriter) since then. Her
novels have been translated into fourteen
languages. Several of her novels have been
national bestsellers, including Gossip, Still Missing, More Than
You Know, and Leeway Cottage.
10
JESSICA KEENER
STRANGERS IN BUDAPEST
US & Canada: Algonquin / Ms available August 2015
“…a strong, distinct and fully evolved new voice.” —Jennifer Egan
Set in mid-1990s, STRANGERS IN BUDAPEST tells
the story of a grieving father who travels across the globe to
Budapest in order to prove that his daughter’s husband killer her and
got away with it. While in Budapest, and America couple and their
newly adopted son become entangled in the father’s dangerous
crusade to uncover the truth bring the man who murdered his
daughter to justice.
Jessica Keener's debut novel, Night Swim
(The Story Plant, 2013), was a national
bestseller and has been widely praised by
reviewers including The New York Times,
which called it "an earnest debut" and
"moving." She is also the author of Women
In Bed (The Story Plant, 2013). Her work
has appeared in scores of national
publications and literary magazines, most
recently in Connotation Press: An Online
Artifact, Huffington Post and The Nervous
Breakdown. She is the recipient of a
Massachusetts Cultural Council Artist's
Grant and was a finalist in Breadloaf's
Bakeless novel competition.
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ELIZABETH OBERBECK
FRENCH MUSE
US & Canada: Harper Perennial / Fall 2016 / Ms available July 2015
“Elizabeth Birkelund is a graceful, intelligent writer, full of energy
and wit, and I love the way she blends American and European
themes.”—Roxana Robinson
Oberbeck’s second novel offers a tale of survival in the rugged
landscape of the Swiss Alps and the rough terrain of the heart. Jim
Olsen, a young American recently fired his job and dumped by his
fiancée, seeks respite in a hütte perched high in the Alps. His
recovery is interrupted by a trio of beautiful French women who beg
him to assume the role of a modern-day knight errant. His mission:
to find their mother, who has fled into the mountains and hasn’t
been seen for weeks. Rich and sensual, FRENCH MUSE
transports us to a realm that skillfully interweaves aspects of the old
world and the new.
Elizabeth Oberbeck has worked in book and
magazine publishing, contributed a regular
column to Cosmopolitan, and written for
Travel and Leisure, Glamour, and Working
Woman, among other publications. She is
the author of The Dressmaker: A Novel
(Henry Holt, 2006)
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MARIAN PALAIA
THE GIVEN WORLD
US & Canada: Simon & Schuster / April 2015
“…what the reader takes away is a visceral appreciation for how many lives, both
on and off the battlefield, were permanently altered by the Vietnam War.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Debut novelist Palaia’s prose is hypnotizing.”
—Library Journal
Barnes & Noble Discovery Pick for Summer 2015
Indie Pick for May 2015
Spanning 25 years, THE
GIVEN
WORLD moves from the Big Sky
country of Montana to San Francisco in
the 1970s and 80s to the expat bars and
back alleys of Saigon. Its unforgettable
heroine, Riley, is part of a generation
coming of age too quickly after Viet
Nam. When her beloved brother doesn’t
come home from the war, Riley goes
looking for him—and a way to trust love
again.
Marian Palaia is a graduate of the MFA program at Madison,
Wisconsin, where she received the 2012 Milofsky Prize. She was a
2012-2013 John Steinbeck Fellow at San Jose State University and is
a recent recipient of the Elizabeth George Foundation Fellowship.
Her work has been published most recently in The Virginia Quarterly
review and TriQuarterly. This is her first novel.
13
NINA SADOWSKY
JUST FALL
World Rights: Ballantine / Ms available April 2015
Film/television rights: Joel Gotler: [email protected]
Set on the Caribbean island of St. Lucia, JUST FALL opens as
Ellie, a newlywed, leaves a dead man in a hotel room bed. But it's not
her husband, Rob. On the eve of her wedding, Ellie discovered her
fiance is not the man she thought he was and his life—their life
now—is bound to a criminal kingpin determined to keep Rob
working for him. As Ellie scrambles to save Rob, she realizes how
much she loves him and that she's willing to go to any length to save
his life, even if that means losing her own. By framing the novel into
in two narratives ("then" and "now"), Sadowsky shows two people
with complicated lives nearly destroyed by secrets. JUST FALL is an
adrenaline-fueled thriller, in the tradition of Laura Lippman and
Gillian Flynn.
Nina Sadowsky is the author of numerous
original screenplays, as well as executive
producer for “The Wedding Planner” and
past president of Meg Ryan’s Prufrock
Pictures. She is currently serving as
adjunct faculty at USC’s School of
Cinematic Arts program, teaching borh
writing and producing.
14
GINA WOHLDORF
SECURITY
World Rights: Algonquin/Spring 2016 / Ms available now
A gripping noir thriller, SECURITY unfolds at Manderley
Resort in Santa Barbara—a luxury hotel with a private beach and a
hedge maze. Less than a week before the grand opening, Tessa, the
property manager, struggles with a mile-long to-do list. When a
masked killer begins to stalk the halls, leaving bloody bodies in his
wake, Tessa’s finds herself trapped in a deadly game of cat-andmouse. A wildly inventive, post-modern take on the gothic thriller,
SECURITY redefines fear for a generation that's seen it all.
Gina Wohlsdorf is a recent graduate of the MFA program at
University of Virginia at Charlottesville. Her short fiction has
appeared in Narrative. She lives in Denver, Colorado. This is her first
novel.
15
WENDY DONIGER
RING OF TRUTH
World English: Oxford University Press /Fall 2016/ Ms Available
Dec 2015
Translation: ESA
Few writers could begin with personal family anecdotes, shift to
Sanskrit myths and Shakespeare, return to popular songs and film
and still maintain a coherent discussion. Yet that is precisely what
Wendy Doniger’s RING OF TRUTH accomplishes, in a
lively and penetrating examination of the enduring power of myth as
revealed through stories about jewels, sex and clever women. Readers
familiar with the author’s previous work will recognize here its
trademark features: wit combined with erudition, fearless roaming
from ancient to contemporary sources, and a delight in stories and
their mysteries.
Author, editor, and translator, Wendy
Doniger has published thirty books in
almost as many years. She holds two
doctorates, from Harvard University and
the University of Oxford, and is known
for her aplomb in tackling intriguing
cultural and historical questions. She is the
author of The Hindus: An Alternative
History (Penguin Press, 2009).
See our Selected Backlist for more information on option publishers.
16
AMY GOLDMAN
HEIRLOOM HARVEST
World English: Bloomsbury / Ms Available now
Translation: ESA
HEIRLOOM HARVEST pays homage to heirloom
plants through the incorporation of daguerreotypes alongside the rich
and diverse tales that the various fruits, vegetables, nuts, berries and
herbs carry with them. Goldman delves into her own past of the land
in Hudson Valley as she recalls the many joyous years that were spent
working on the land and improving the poor and rocky native soil
that was not meant for bountiful agriculture. Years of renovating the
house, improving the soil, setting up gardens, planting orchards, and
building a greenhouse has had a lasting impact on Goldman; the land
has shaped her as much as she has shaped it.
Amy Goldman works to preserve the
agricultural heritage and genetic diversity
of the world's fruits and vegetables.
Known to viewers of Martha Stewart
Television and PBS, she has written
for Garden Design and has been
profiled in such publications as The
New York Times and House & Garden.
She is the author of Melons for the
Passionate Grower and The
Compleat Squash. She lives in New
York City and Rhinebeck, New York.
17
PATRICIA MORRISROE
9 ½ NARROW
World Rights: Gotham / April 2015
A funny and poignant memoir by Patricia Morrisroe, who has written
extensively on fashion and culture for Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, New
York and other magazines, celebrates the shoes that defined
important moments in her life, from the Confirmation "wedgies" that
celebrated her entrance into adulthood to her Beatle boots to the
New Balance sneakers she bought her elderly mother, who was losing
her balance and was too proud to use a cane. A narrative Love, Loss
and What I Wore with a sprinkling of I Feel Bad about My Neck, 9
½ NARROW is not just one woman’s shoe story but
Everywoman’s.
Patricia is the author of two books, Wide
Awake: A Memoir of Insomnia (Spiegel
& Grau, 2010) and Mapplethorpe: A
Biography (Random House, 1995). She
was a contributing editor at New York,
where she wrote feature stories and has
written for Vanity Fair, the New York
Times, Vogue and many other major
magazines. During the past several years,
she has written about fashion for Vogue.
Her “Modern Love” column in the New
York Times was the inspiration for her
memoir.
18
PHILIP SHORT
PUTIN: A Biography
US & Canada: John Macrae/Holt / Ms available 2019
All other rights: DHA
Master journalist and biographer Philip Short turns his extraordinary
acuity and meticulous attention to detail to arguably one of the most
prominent and polarizing figures of modern history: Vladimir Putin.
Philip Short was born in Bristol and
studied at Queens' College, Cambridge.
He is the author of several books, among
them the definitive biographies, Mao: A
Life (Holt, 2000) and Pol Pot: Anatomy
of a Nightmare (Holt, 2007), as well as
A Taste for Intrigue: The Multiple
Lives of François Mitterrand (Holt,
2014). He has been a foreign
correspondent for The Times (London),
The Economist, and the BBC in Uganda,
Moscow, China, and Washington,
D.C.2013).
19
RICHARD SNOW
HAMPTON ROADS
World: Scribner / Ms available January 2016
In HAMPTON ROADS, Historian Richard Snow explores
the secret battle that raged between the Union and Confederate
navies in their attempts to invent and perfect the use of submersibles
as part of their campaigns in this untold story of The Civil War.
Richard Snow worked at American
Heritage magazine for nearly four
decades and was its editor-in-chief for
seventeen years. He is the author of
several books, among them two
novels and a volume of poetry. Snow
has served as a consultant for
historical motion picture—among
them Glory—and has written for
documentaries, including the Burns
brothers’ Civil War, and Ric Burns’s
award-winning PBS film Coney
Island, whose screenplay he wrote. Most recently, he served as a
consultant on Ken Burns’s World War II series, The War. He is the
author of A Measureless Peril (Scribner, 2010) and I Invented the
Modern Age (Scribner, 2013).
See our Selected Backlist for more information on option publishers.
20
ELLEN TADD
THE INFINITE VIEW
World: Tarcher / Ms available August 2015
In THE INFINITE VIEW, clairvoyant counselor and
teacher Ellen Tadd presents a provocative examination of
consciousness, perception, reincarnation and human potential. The
tools and insights she shares are a distillation of lessons she has
received over the course of forty years through guides from the
spiritual plane. In a narrative based on her own experiences as well as
those of her clients and students, THE INFINITE VIEW offers a
practical means of transforming our understanding of ourselves and
of the world around us.
Ellen Tadd is an internationally recognized
clairvoyant counselor who has taught and
lectured at colleges, universities, hospitals
and community groups for over thirty years.
Her work has been supported by the Edgar
Cayce Foundation, the Marion Institute,
Deepak Chopra, ChildSpirit Institute, the
Institute of Noetic Sciences, and the Boston
Center for Adult Education. Tadd’s work
has been described in several books and articles, including Elizabeth
Lloyd Mayer’s Extraordinary Knowing (Bantam, 2008). She is the author
of Death and Letting Go (Montague Press, 2003) and The
Wisdom of the Chakras (Lantern Books, 2010).
21
RECENTLY PUBLISHED
22
EMILY CROY BARKER
THE THINKING WOMAN’S GUIDE TO
REAL MAGIC
World Rights: Pamela Dorman Books / Paperback: July 29, 2014
Film/television Rights: Jody Hotchkiss: [email protected]
“Fun, seductive, and utterly engrossing, this wonderful tale of magic and adventure is a
perfect escape from humdrum reality.” — Deborah Harkness
After almost 20 years as a journalist, Emily
Croy Barker turned her writing skills to
fiction to produce THE THINKING
WOMAN'S GUIDE TO REAL
MAGIC, a debut novel about a woman
who finds herself in an alternate world—a
fairy tale gone wrong—where she will
need to learn the skills of magic to survive.
Rights sold to:
France: Flammarion
Italy: Giunti
UK: Michael Joseph
World Audio: Recorded Books
Emily Croy Barker is currently deputy editor at The American
Lawyer magazine. She graduated magna cum laude from Harvard
University with a bachelor’s degree in English literature. Her work
has appeared in Inc., Harvard, and CosmoGIRL! magazines, as well
as The American Lawyer. She lives in Jersey City, New Jersey. This is
her first novel.
23
EDGAR CANTERO
THE SUPERNATURAL ENHANCEMENTS
US & Canada: Doubleday / August 12, 2014
Film/television rights: Joel Gotler: [email protected]
“A wonderful, enthralling book… one of those rare literary creations that shortens the
long hours of night.” — Jason Mott
In Edgar Cantero's wildly inventive and
wholly original novel, a strange European
couple arrive in Virginia after implausibly
inheriting Axton House – their very own
haunted place. Set in 1995, THE
SUPERNATURAL
ENHANCEMENTS tells the story
of A., the unexpected heir and Niamh,
the mute underage punk girl whom he
refers to as either his associate or his
bodyguard—he's also falling in love with
her. Both share a passion for "The X
Files" and a Hollywood-influenced vision
of their new continent. Through diaries,
letters and state-of-the-art digital sources, they eagerly delve into a
dubious suicide and discover the secret society the former owner of
the house founded and its mysterious game – a "bourgeois pastime"
of global proportions.
Rights sold to:
UK: Del Rey
Italy: Duomo
France: Sonatine
Spain: Minotauro
Edgar Cantero lives in Barcelona and works as a cartoonist at "El
Jueve." This is his first novel written in English; he wrote two novels
published in Catalan (‘Dormir amb Winona Ryder’ (‘Sleeping with
Winona Ryder’; Barcelona: Proa, 2007), which won the Joan Crexells
award for best Catalan novel of the year, and ‘Vallvi’ (Proa, 2011).
24
LYNN CULLEN
MRS. POE
US & Canada: Gallery / Paperback: April 1, 2014
Film rights sold to Frances Fisher
NATIONAL BESTSELLER, Target Pick, Costco Pick
In 1845, the fame that had eluded Edgar Allan
Poe at last seems assured. But just when New
York and the rest of the world is falling in love
with him, he falls in love with Frances
Osgood, a poet known mostly for her
children’s verses. Both parties are married—
Poe to his first cousin, Virginia, who was
thirteen when she married him, and Frances to
a prominent painter with a weakness for
women. In the gothic thriller, MRS. POE,
Frances Osgood chronicles the intense attraction between her and
Edgar Allen Poe as it descends to a downfall so complete they are
lucky to escape with their lives. Virginia Poe, it seems, has no plans to
give up her husband lightly.
Rights sold to:
Brazil: Bertrand Brasil
Czech: Metafora
France: Editions Galaade
Hungary: Rézbong Kiadó/Aeramentum Kiadó,
Italy: Neri Pozza Editore
Lithuania: UAB Gimtasis Zodis
Poland: Dom Wydawniczy PWN
Russia: AST
Turkey: Dogen Egmont
Lynn Cullen is also the author of numerous award-winning books for
children and adults. Please see her backlist for additional rights.
25
ELLEN FELDMAN
THE UNWITTING
US & Canada: Spiegel & Grau / May 6, 2014
“Bold and original… this tale that is part love story, part mystery and part political
thriller is one I would heartily recommend…”
— Ellah Allfrey, All Things Considered, NPR
During the Cold War, many liberal anticommunist writers, artists, and intellectuals
ended up working for organizations that were
CIA fronts. CIA protocol dictated that one
individual in the various organizations would be
vetted, sworn to secrecy and told about the
connection and funding. That individual was, in
Agency parlance, witting. Everyone else was
unwitting. THE UNWITTING is
about a husband who is witting, a wife who is
not, and the unraveling of her life when she discovers that the person
she is closest to in the world, the husband she loved and trusted, has
betrayed her not with another woman but with an allegiance.
Rights sold to:
UK: Picador
Ellen Feldman, a 2009 Guggenheim fellow, is the author of
Scottsboro, The Boy Who Loved Anne Frank, and Lucy. She
grew up in northern New Jersey and attended Bryn Mawr College,
from which she holds a B.A. and an M.A. in modern history. After
further graduate studies at Columbia University, she worked for a
New York publishing house. Feldman lives in New York City and
East Hampton, New York, with her husband and their Cairn terrier
named Lucy. She is the author of Next to Love (Spiegel & Grau,
2011).
See our Selected Backlist for more information on option publishers.
26
JESSICA KEENER
WOMEN IN BED
World Rights: Studio Digital / October 1, 2013
“Demonstrates a versatile voice and ability to deliver as much exquisite detail as the
stories’ brevity will allow.” — Publishers Weekly
Jessica Keener’s extraordinary debut novel,
Night Swim captivated readers with its
eloquence, insight, and humanity. “This
gripping first novel announces the arrival of
a strong, distinct and fully evolved new
voice,” said Jennifer Egan, Pulitzer Prize
winner and author of A Visit from the
Goon Squad. Sara Gruen, New York Times
bestselling author of Water for Elephants
called Keener, “An amazing new literary
voice.” Now Jessica Keener returns with
WOMEN IN BED, a collection of
nine stories that thematically address
variations of love, love of self, family, and
sexual relationships from loneliness and isolation, desperation and
rejection to need and passion, forgiveness and, finally, to love found.
Jessica Keener's fiction has been recognized in The Pushcart Prize
under "Outstanding Writers," and won Redbook magazine's second
prize. Her debut novel, Night Swim, has been widely praised by
reviewers and book bloggers including The New York Times, which
called Night Swim "an earnest debut" and "moving." Her work has
appeared in scores of national publications and literary magazines,
most recently in Connotation Press: An Online Artifact, Huffington
Post and The Nervous Breakdown. She is the recipient of a
Massachusetts Cultural Council Artist's Grant and was a finalist in
Breadloaf's Bakeless novel competition.
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TANIA MALIK
THREE BARGAINS
World Rights: W.W. Norton / August 11, 2014
“….an impressive feat of storytelling…”
—San Francisco Chronicle
A rich debut novel set on the banks of
the River Yamuna in northern India, as
twelve-year-old Madan arrives with his
family in the factory town of Gorapur.
Madan’s father, drunk and abusive,
threatens the family’s already tenuous,
lowly position in Gorapur, finally
committing an unforgivable crime.
For fans of The Kite Runner and
“Slumdog Millionaire”!
Tania Malik was born in New Delhi, educated in boarding schools in
the Himalayas, and raised in India, Africa, and the Middle East. She
received her degree from the University of Delhi, and currently lives
in Northern California with her husband, daughter, and dog. THREE
BARGAINS is her first novel. She lives in New Delhi.
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ISLA MORLEY
ABOVE
US & Canada: Gallery / Paperback: November 4, 2014
Film/television Rights: Michelle Weiner: [email protected]
“A true page-turner.” —Library Journal
In ABOVE, a 16-year-old girl is abducted
from her Kansas home and locked away in an
abandoned missile silo by a man who believes
he is saving her from the impending
destruction of the world. Blythe believes her
greatest challenge is to find a way to escape
and get home until she discovers that she has
to struggle against crushing loneliness, the
encroaching madness of her captor and the
persistent temptation to give up. Nothing,
however, prepares her for the burden of
having to raising a child in confinement. Out
of terror, she must fashion wonder for the boy, setting aside the truth
about a world he may never see for the myth that just might give
meaning to his life underground.
Rights sold to:
UK: Hodder
Isla Morley is the author of Come Sunday (Sarah Crichton Books,
2010), which sold internationally and won the Kafka Prize. She grew
up in South Africa during apartheid, the child of a British father and
fourth-generation South African mother. She graduated from Nelson
Mandela Metropolitan University in Port Elizabeth with a degree in
English literature. By 1994 she was one of the youngest magazine
editors in South Africa.
See our Selected Backlist for more information on option publishers.
29
COLLEEN OAKLEY
BEFORE I GO
US & Canada: Gallery / January 6, 2015
Film/television rights: Jody Hotchkiss: [email protected]
“…funny and touching ... Oakley expertly tugs at the heartstrings with well-rounded
characters and a liberal dose of gallows humor.”—Publishers Weekly
“Oakley’s debut deftly balances sorrow with laughs and compassion.”—Us Weekly,
January Issue
“With compassion and humor, Oakley makes us feel for this dying woman and
understand her final wish.”—Good Housekeeping, January Issue
Library Journal 2014 Big Fiction Debut
Publisher’s Marketplace 2014 BUZZ BOOK
BEFORE I GO, a heart-wrenching
debut novel in the bestselling tradition of
P.S. I Love You and The Rosie Project,
centers on a young woman with breast
cancer who undertakes a mission to find a
new wife for her husband before she
passes away.
Rights sold to:
UK/ANZ: Allen & Unwin
Brazil: Editoria Bertrand
Korea: Book 21
Macedonian Language rights: Sakam Knigl
Russia: EXMO
Turkey: Ithaki
Colleen Oakley has been published The New York Times, Redbook,
Parade, Marie Claire, Women’s Health, and Ladies Home Journal.
She was senior editor of Marie Claire and editor-in-chief of Women’s
Health & Fitness. This is her first novel.
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VADDEY RATNER
IN THE SHADOW OF THE BANYAN
World Rights: Simon & Schuster / Paperback: June 4, 2013
“A novel full of beauty, even joy...with the capacity—seemingly infinite—for empathy.”
—The New York Times Book Review
Former Cambodian refugee Vaddey Ratner’s
NYT bestselling IN THE SHADOW
OF THE BANYAN, a debut novel
about a young girl from a royal family who,
along with her family, is swept up in the chaotic
killing fields of the Khmer Rouge and survives
the atrocities of genocide by clinging to the
memory of the poetry and stories told to her by
her father. It was a Finalist for the 2013
Pen/Hemingway Award.
UK: Simon & Schuster
Italy: Rizzoli
Norway: Aschehoug
Poland: Proszynski
Spain: Planeta
Israel: Aryeh Nir
Lithuania: Baltos Lankos
Thailand: Sanskrit
Korea: Jaeum & Moeum
Turkey: Aspendos
Rights sold:
Bulgaria: Hermes Publishing
Japan: Kawade Shobo Shinsha
Slovakia: Ikar
Czech: Euromedia
Germany: Unionsverlag
Holland: Van Gennep
France: Belfond
Brazil: Geracao
Serbia: Laguna
Vaddey Ratner was five years old in 1975 when the Khmer Rouge
took over Cambodia. In 1981, she arrived in the U.S. as a refugee
and, in 1990, graduated as her high school class valedictorian. She
graduated summa cum laude from Cornell University, specializing in
Southeast Asian literature and politics. In recent years she has lived
and traveled extensively in Cambodia and Southeast Asia, writing and
researching, which has culminated in this powerfully moving debut
novel.
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JULENE BAIR
THE OGALLALA ROAD: A Memoir of Love
and Reckoning
World Rights: Viking / March 6, 2014
“…a book by a tough, restless, energetic, admirable, principled Kansan who also happens to be a
fine writer. Her voice is a welcome one.” —The New York Times
THE OGALLALA ROAD is
Julene Bair’s unforgettable tale of the
Kansas land where the Bair's family farmed
for generations and her fight to save the
precious resource that is the Ogallala
aquifer. Bair’s story takes us on an odyssey
through romance, self-knowledge and
raising a son by herself. This memoir—an
Eat Pray Love of the West—deals with the
myth of the American cowboy and the
conflict between family and the self.
Julene has written many pieces about the Ogallala, the most recent an
op-ed in the New York Times: “Running Dry on the Great Plains.”
She is a member of the Speakers Bureau of Colorado Water 2012 and
blogs for that educational effort. She is the author of One Degree
West: Reflections of a Plainsdaughter her first book which Patricia
Hampl called, “a powerful elegy–flinty and tender.” Julene was
awarded a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in Creative
Nonfiction. Her work has been published in dozens of journals. A
graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and the Iowa Nonfiction
Writing Program, Julene has taught writing at the Universities of
Iowa and Wyoming, led writing workshops around the country, and
performed many guest readings at conferences and in schools.
32
PRESIDENT JOHN MAHAMA
MY FIRST COUP D’ETAT: And Other True Stories
from the Lost Decades of Africa
World English: Bloomsbury / Paperback: May 14, 2013
“A graceful memoir and striking literary debut.”
—The Washington Post
MY FIRST COUP D’ETAT is
an important literary debut from the Vice
President of Ghana, a fable-like memoir
that offers a shimmering microcosm of
post-colonial Africa. John Dramani
Mahama chronicles his coming-of-age in
Ghana during the dismal post-independence
"lost decades" of Africa. He was seven years
old when rumors of a coup reached his
boarding school in Accra. His father, a
minister of state, was suddenly missing, then
imprisoned for more than a year. This is a
one-of-a-kind book: Mahama's is a rare literary voice from a political
leader, and his stories work on many levels--as fables, as history, as
cultural and political analysis, and, of course, as the memoir of a
young man who, unbeknownst to him or anyone else, would grow up
to be vice president of his nation. An excerpt from MY FIRST
COUP D’ETAT was featured in the Virginia Quarterly Review.
Rights sold:
Brazil: Geraçao Editorial
His Excellency John Dramani Mahama is a writer, historian, and
communications expert. He is a former member of Parliament and
Minister of State and currently the President of the Republic of
Ghana. He lives in Accra, Ghana.
33
RICHARD SNOW
I INVENTED THE MODERN AGE: The
Rise of Henry Ford
World Rights: Scribner / Paperback: May 13, 2014
“Richard Snow’s lively biography will make you rethink the man whose legacy sits in
your garage.” —Parade
From the acclaimed popular historian Richard
Snow, who “writes with verve and a keen eye”
(The New York Times Book Review), comes I
INVENTED THE MODERN
AGE , a fresh and entertaining account of
Henry Ford and his invention of the Model T—
the ugly, cranky, invincible machine that defined
twentieth-century America.
Rights sold:
Brazil: Saraiva
Simple Chinese: Cheers Publishing
US & Canada Large Print: Center Point
Richard Snow was born in New York City and he graduated with a
B.A. from Columbia College in 1970. He worked at American
Heritage magazine for nearly four decades and was its editor-in-chief
for seventeen years. He is the author of several books, among them
two novels and a volume of poetry. Snow has served as a consultant
for historical motion picture—among them Glory—and has written
for documentaries, including the Burns brothers’ Civil War, and Ric
Burns’s award-winning PBS film Coney Island, whose screenplay he
wrote. Most recently, he served as a consultant on Ken Burns’s
World War II series, The War. He is the author of A Measureless
Peril (Scribner, 2010).
34
SELECTED BACKLIST
35
ANITA AMIRREZVANI
EQUAL OF THE SUN
US & Canada: Scribner (2012, paperback 2013)
Rights sold to: Muelenhoff Boekerij/Holland; Alma
Littera/Lithuania;
Azbooka/Russia; ODTU/ Turkey; Profil Knjiga/Croatia;
Albatros/Poland;
Zvaigzne ABC/Latvia
BLOOD OF FLOWERS
US, Canada: Little, Brown (2007), Back Bay Books (2008)
Rights sold to: Headline/UK; Lafon/France; Ullstein/Germany;
Salamandra/Spanish, RBA/Catalan, Civilizacao Editora/Portuguese
in Portugal; Nova Fronteira/Portuguese in Brazil; Mondadori/Italy;
Lindhardt & Ringhof/Denmark; DeBokeri/Holland;
Gyldendal/Norway; Forum Bokforlag AB/Sweden; WSOY/
Finland; Keter/Israel; Wydawnicto Cyklady/Poland;
Livornis/Greece; Ucila/Slovenia; Okean/Serbia; Profil/Croatia;
Geopen Kiado/Hungary; NOXI/Czech Republic and Slovakia,
ODTU/Turkey, Commercial/Complex Chinese, Culturer/Simplified
Chinese, Sanskrit/Thailand, Leda/Romania, All-Prints/Arabic,
Literature/Vietnam, Skjaldborg/Iceland, Munhakdongne/Korea,
Azbooka/Russia, UFUK/Indonesia, Alma Littera/Lithuania, Profil
Knjiga/Croatia
HEATHER BARBIERI
THE LACE MAKERS OF GLENMARA
US and Canada: Harper (2009)
Rights sold to: Goldmann/Germany; Macmillan/UK;
Instars/Taiwan; Rizzoli/Italy
THE COTTAGE AT GLASS BEACH
US and Canada: Harper (2013)
Rights sold to: Goldmann/Germany
36
ANDREW BEAHRS
TWAIN’S FEAST
US and Canada: Penguin Press (June 2010, paperback Oct. 25, 2011)
Rights sold to: Atticus/Russia
STEPHANIE COWELL
CLAUDE AND CAMILLE
US and Canada: Crown (2010, paperback 2011)
Rights sold to: Droemer/Germany, Neri Pozza/Italy, Sun
Color/Taiwan, Wydawnictwo "Bukowy Las"/Poland
LYNN CULLEN
MRS. POE
US & Canada: Gallery (2013, paperback 2014)
Rights sold to: Neri Pozza Editore/Italy; UAB Gimtasis
Zodis/Lithuania; Bertrand Brasil /Brazil; Rézbong Kiadó/
Aeramentum Kiadó/ Hungary; Dogen Egmont/Turkey;
Dom Wydawniczy PWN/Poland; Metafora/Czech; AST/
Russia; Editions Galaade/France
REIGN OF MADNESS
US and Canada: Putnam (August 4, 2011)
Rights sold to: Editora Novo Secula/Brazil
THE CREATION OF EVE
US and Canada: Putnam (paperback March 2011)
Rights sold to: Ediciones B/Spain, Bookman Books/Simplified
Chinese
37
WENDY DONIGER
ON HINDUISM
World English: Oxford University Press
Rights sold to: Aleph/India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal,
and Bhutan
THE HINDUS: An Alternative History
World English: The Penguin Press (paperback 2010)
UK: Oxford University Press
Rights sold to: Penguin/India, Adelphi/Italy
DAVID DOSA, MD MPH
MAKING ROUNDS WITH OSCAR: The
Extraordinary Gift of an Ordinary Cat
US and Canada: Hyperion (February 2010, paperback April 2011)
Rights sold to: Headline/UK, House of Books/Holland,
Droemer/Germany, Mondadori/Italy, Hayakawa/Japan,
Bertlesmann/Poland, Ediouro/Brazil, Matar/Israel,
L’Archipel/France, Locus publishing/Taiwan, Thinkingdom/China,
IRE/Korea, Lua De Papel/Portugal, Editions Maeva/Spain,
Euromedia/Czech Republic, PT Granmedia/Indonesia,
Epsilon/Turkey, Otava/Finland, Olion/Estonia, Atkus/Slovakia,
Blackstone (US audio), BBC (UK audio), Komol/Thailand
ELLEN FELDMAN
NEXT TO LOVE
World except UK: Spiegel & Grau (July 26, 2011)
Rights sold to: UK: Picador
38
SARA GRUEN
APE HOUSE
US and Canada: Spiegel & Grau (Sept 2010, paperback April 2011)
Rights sold to: Allen & Unwin/Australia, Santillana/Spain,
Sirene/Dutch, Bazar/Scandinavia, Crown/Complex Chinese,
Century/Simplified Chinese, Kinnert/Hebrew, Bompiani/Italy,
Rowholt/Germany, Hodder/UK, Albin Michel/France, Modrijan
Zalozba/Slovenia, Editora Record/Brazil, DoDream/Korea,
Russia/Exmo, Serbia/Mono & Manana, and Portugal/Gailivro
WATER FOR ELEPHANTS
World rights: Algonquin (April 2007)
Rights sold to: Allen & Unwin/ANZ, HarperCollins/Canada, AlbinMichel/France, Kinneret/Israel, Sirene/Holland, Rebis/Poland, Hodder &
Stoughton/UK, Sextante/Brazil, Ten Points/Complex Chinese,
Century/Simplified Chinese, Neri Pozza/Italy, Bra Boker/Sweden,
DuMont/Germany, Bookworm/Hungary, Mono & Manana/Serbia,
Kondasha/Japan, Difel Difusao/Portugal, PT Gramedia/Indonesia, ARA
Libres/Catalan, Algoritam/Croatia, Slovensky/Czech, DoDream/Korea,
Gayatri/Russia, Slovensky/Slovakia, Bard/Bulgaria, Bazar/Denmark,
Bazar/Finland, Livanis/Greece, JPV/Iceland, Matica/Macedonia, Nha
Nam/Vietnam, OMSCA-1/Albania, Jarir/Saudi Arabia, Modrijan
Zalozba/Slovenia, Humanitas/Romania
RIDING LESSONS
US and Canada: HarperTorch (2004)
Rights sold to: Santillana/Spain, Century/Simplified Chinese,
Kinnert/Hebrew, Rowholt/Germany, Hodder/UK, Albin Michel/France,
Modrijan Zalozba/Slovenia, Editora Record/Brazil, Exmo/Russia, Mono
& Manana/Serbia, Musu Knyga/Lithuania
FLYING CHANGES
US and Canada: HarperTorch (2005)
Rights sold to: Allen & Unwin/Australia, Santillana/Spain,
Century/Simplified Chinese, Kinneret/Hebrew, Rowholt/Germany,
Hodder/UK, Albin Michel/France, Modrijan Zalozba/Slovenia, Editora
Record/Brazil, Serbia/Mono & Manana, Russia/Exmo
39
BETH GUTCHEON
GOSSIP
US & Canada: William Morrow / Paperback: March 5, 2013
World Rights (excluding US & Canada): Atlantic
STEPHANIE LEHMANN
ASTOR PLACE VINTAGE
World Rights: Touchstone / June 11, 2013
Rights sold to: Heyne Verlag, Germany/Garzanti Libri, Italy/
MAEVA, Spain/Chinese Simple Characters, China Citic Press/
Edicions 62, Catalan/Ikia Yayincilik, Turkey/ Muza S.A., Poland
DAVID SAMUEL LEVINSON
ANTONIA LIVELY BREAKS THE SILENCE
US and Canada: Algonquin (June 2013)
Translation and UK: ESA
ISLA MORLEY
COME SUNDAY
US and Canada: Picador (2009)
Rights sold to: Hodder/UK, De Kern/Holland, Rowohlt/Germany,
Hayakawa/Japan, Belacqva/Spain, Changjiang/Simplified Chinese
RICHARD SNOW
A MEASURELESS PERIL
US and Canada: Scribner (May 2010, paperback 2011)
Translation and UK: ESA
40
CO-AGENTS
French: La Nouvelle Agence, Vanessa Kling, 7 rue Corneille, 75006,
Paris, France. [email protected]
German: Anoukh Foerg Literary Agency, Anoukh Foerg,
Herzogstrasse 73, 80796 München, Germany
[email protected]
ISRAEL
Italian: Berla & Griffini Rights Agency, Erica Berla, Via Stampa 4,
20123 Milano. [email protected]
Spanish, Catalan, and Portuguese in Portugal and Brazil: International
Editors Company, Provenza, 276, 1r, 08008 Barcelona, Spain.
[email protected]
Dutch and Scandinavian Territories: Ulf Töregård, Ulf Töregård
Agency AB, Meyers plan 5, S-374 33 Karlshamn, Sweden.
[email protected]
Polish: Marcin Biegaj, Graal Ltd. ul. Pruskowla 29, Suite 252, 02-119
Warsaw, Poland. [email protected]
Russian: Liz Van Lear, The Van Lear Agency, PO Box 21816,
London SW6 5ZU, United Kingdom. [email protected]
Turkish: Kayi Literary Agency Ltd., Dilek Kayi, 737. Sokak No: 4C
Ege Botanik Sitesi, B2/10 Yildizevler, Cankaya 06550 Ankara,
Turkey. [email protected]
Baltic States: Andrew Nurnberg Associates Baltic, Tatjana Zoldnere,
PO Box 77, Riga LV 1011, Latvia. [email protected]
Czech, Slovak, and Slovenian: Lucie Polakova, Andrew Nurnberg
Associates Prague, Jugoslavskych partyzanu 17, 160 00 Praha 6,
Czech Republic. [email protected]
41
Hungarian: Réka Bartha, Katai & Bolza, H-1406 Budapest, P.O.Box
55, Hungary
Bulgarian, Romanian, Serbian, Macedonian and Albanian: Anna
Droumeva, Andrew Nurnberg Associates Sofia Ltd., 11 Slaveikov
Sq., 3rd Floor, 1000 Sofia, Bulgaria. [email protected]
Japanese: Miko Yamanouchi, Japan Uni Agency, Inc. Tokyodo No.2
Building, 5F 1-27 Kanda-Jinbocho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101-0051
Japan. [email protected]
China, Taiwan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, SE Asia:
Wendy King, Big Apple Agency, Inc. [email protected]
Korean: EYA, Jackie Yang, 3f Shangery Bldg, 60-10 Banpo-Dong,
Seocho-ku, Seoul, Korea. [email protected]
Israeli: Dalia Ever Hadani, The Book Publishers Association of
Israel, 29 Carlebach Street, Tel Aviv 67132. ISRAEL.
[email protected]
42
Emma Sweeney Agency, LLC
245 East 80th Street, Suite 7E
New York, NY 10075-0506
p. 646.827.4381
f. 212.933.1212
[email protected]
emmasweeneyagency.com
@emmasweeneyesa
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