12 Eylül 2014 Cuma

The Friedrich Agency Frankfurt Rights Guide 2014


  





THE FRIEDRICH AGENCY
RIGHTS LIST: Fall 2014


Contact: Lucy Carson: lcarson@friedrichagency.com

Nichole LeFebvre: nichole@friedrichagency.com





















DANCING WITH THE TIGER
Lili Wright (Marian Wood Books, Putnam/2016)

Acerbic, sexy, and all-consuming, DANCING WITH THE TIGER marks the arrival of a major new voice in American fiction. Lili Wright has set her debut novel against the epidemic of drug violence and the controversy over the repatriation of cultural artifacts.

When a meth-addicted looter unearths Montezuma’s death mask, a terrifying struggle for possession ensues: Anna Ramsey, a 30-year-old fact checker whose life is in turmoil, needs the mask to repair her reputation in the New York art scene; Thomas Malone, a secretive expatriate, wants it locked in his ominous private chapel; and Reyes, a dying drug lord will stop at nothing to keep the death mask from leaving Mexico.

In what we’re calling the “holy trinity of fiction,” this novel hits the head, the heart, and the groin each with perfect calibration. Written in taut, lyrical prose DANCING WITH THE TIGER encompasses everything we crave in fiction and is a riveting exploration of the masks we wear, the secrets we keep, and the revelations we owe to those we love.

Acquired in a heated auction, this novel is Marian Wood’s first debut in over a decade and she describes the book as “irresistible: compelling, original, propulsive.” As reported by PW, she says, “DANCING WITH THE TIGER is powerful, sophisticated, acidly witty, erotic—and often terrifying.” We couldn’t agree more.


THE LADYSITTER
Justin Sylvester (On Submission)

Justin Sylvester is the one and only Ladysitter in existence—he should know, because he invented the job. A Ladysitter doesn’t take care of children, nor is he a personal assistant. He’s a best friend, interior decorator, matchmaker, life coach, therapist, stylist and party planner all in one. In short, he is what the women of Beverly Hills are fighting over! Justin has worked for everyone from the Hilton family to the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, but his stories in this memoir never name-drop… they all stand on their own with sharp humor and emotional moments that catch you completely off-guard.

People Magazine, In Touch, and OK Entertainment have all recognized Justin as The Ladysitter but he remains the only one of his kind—unique, and not surprisingly!

Bravo has green-lit the pilot to the television series based on Justin’s life, financed by Warner Horizon with John Wells Productions (The West Wing, Shameless, Southland).

This memoir is currently on submission, so please check for updates as Frankfurt nears.

Get the rights now, before The Ladysitter becomes the household name he’s destined to be!


BLUE SKIES, BLACK DEATH
Michael Graff (On Submission)



After a comfortable, love-filled childhood, Michael Graff chooses the safe path in life: he marries, buys a home, adopts a dog, and climbs the ranks as a sports journalist and editor. All of this modeled on the happy, swerve-free life his own father led.

Or so he thought.

A series of strokes turns father Fred Graff misty-eyed and nostalgic to talk about his past, but it’s not the story of raising two boys in North Carolina. It’s the raucous, rowdy tale of his twenties, when he was known as “Fearless Freddie” and a member of The Pelicans, the country’s elite skydiving club. Freddie could jump from 12,000 feet in the air and land on a ten-centimeter-round target on the ground, dead center. Facing death, however, is far scarier than freefall.

Based on Graff’s hugely shared online article “Up, and Awayin The Washingtonian, the book will expand the father-son conversation and will be packed with revelations about life, death, fear, and fatherhood. Michael intends on becoming a sports skydiver himself to understand just what drove his father back in the ‘60s. In his words, he’s not a “skydiver setting out to write a book.” He’s a “writer setting out to skydive.” Executive Editor of Charlotte magazine (monthly circ. 400,000) Michael Graff is a 13-time state and national award winner, and in 2008 he was the most honored newspaper writer in North Carolina. He has written for The Associated Press, Our State, Politico, Triad Golf Today, Midwest Living the News & Record.

This is a father/son story of classical proportions; complex, moving, compelling. Full of wit and courage, this proposal is refreshing in its honest, loving portrayal of a father and son.

This proposal is currently on submission, so please check for updates as Frankfurt nears.


THE LAST HUNDRED YEARS: A Trilogy
Jane Smiley (Knopf, Robin Desser) Mantle (UK) 
Book One: SOME LUCK, October 7, 2014
Book Two: EARLY WARNING, May/June 2015
Book Three: TBA, October 2015

Life can change in an instant, and as those changes amass over 100 years, something extraordinary happens: history is made. In this masterful trilogy, Jane Smiley explores the triumphs and tragedies of one family, while casting a panoramic eye on the twentieth century.

SOME LUCK opens on the humble, heavily indebted Langdon family farm in 1920. We meet Rosanna and Walter, their curious, brilliant newborn Frank. Soon the family grows to five children, all wildly different yet remarkable, with such potential to mark history in their own ways. Yet as time passes, as it must, some thrive as others fall victim to flaws and fate. Who will persevere? Who will simply, sadly, be forgotten? With shared joys and hushed secrets, through times of economic and political volatility, SOME LUCK examines the nature of family, character, and how we are all changed by circumstances unforeseen.

A trilogy is a literary feat few writers attempt and even fewer achieve, especially at this virtuosic level. Akin to her Pulitzer Prize-winning A THOUSAND ACRES, SOME LUCK is brilliant, brave, and will leave you longing for books two and three. Happily, readers won’t have to wait long. Knopf and Mantle will publish SOME LUCK in October 2014, the second book in May 2015, and the last of the trilogy in October 2015. In a five-bidder British auction, Mantle bought the rights for six figures per book.

One of Kirkus’s 10 Most Anticipated Novels of the Fall
Forthcoming press in: TIME, The New York Times, The Bookseller,
Wall Street Journal, The Paris Review, and The New Yorker
** Four STARRED Reviews **
Tremendous…Smiley is a seductive writer in perfect command of every element of language…Some Luck will be on the top of countless to-read lists.”
              
Donna Seaman, Booklist (starred review)
Surprising, engaging. An expansive tale showing this generally flinty author in a mellow mood.”    – Kirkus (starred review)
Exciting. . . In the first volume of a planned trilogy, Smiley returns to the Iowa of her Pulitzer Prize winning A Thousand Acres…Smiley conjures a world—time, place, people—and an engaging story that makes readers eager to know what happens next.”
               – Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Highly recommended; a lush and grounded reading experience.”
              
– Barbara Hoffert, Library Journal (starred review)

PHENOMENAL:
A Hesitant Adventurer’s Search for Wonder in the Natural World
Leigh Ann Henion (Penguin Press/ March 24, 2015)
Penguin Press has World English

When The Washington Post sends Leigh Ann Henion to the migration site of the monarch butterflies in central Mexico, she begins to feel her sense of wonder stir. With the birth of her son and burgeoning professional life, however, she suppresses that curiosity.

But is a young mother allowed to leave her child, to see the world? Yes! Setting out to rekindle a childlike sense of wonder in her increasingly routine, always-busy life, Henion experiences a selection of the earth’s most dazzling natural phenomena. We’re lucky to tag along in this uniquely compelling, awe-inspiring memoir. 

In the process of exploring natural phenomena—from the famous Northern Lights to the obscure perpetual lightning storms in South America, Henion meets and befriends a chorus of characters.
They all, in their own ways, remind us that wonder isn't about finding answers. It's about becoming more comfortable with questions.

Through Henion's adventures, the world we take for granted becomes a mysterious and fascinating place. Water speaks through bioluminescence, microscopic organisms that produce living light. Two million wildebeest follow the promise of rain, steadily streaming across the Serengeti. Henion probes the science and mythology that help her understand these chosen phenomena.  

This is the story of how—in an abstract, digital world of over-specialization and iEverything—one woman became the expert witness of her own life, ultimately bringing an adult-size, global sense of wonder home to bear on her own backyard. PHENOMENAL is a transformative narrative that captures, in a wholly original way, the heartbreaking beauty of nature and the always-searching, ever-evolving power of storytelling.

Praise for PHENOMENAL:
What a cool and fascinating ride. Leigh Ann Henion has tackled one of the great questions of contemporary, intelligent, adventurous women: Is it possible to be a wife and mother and still explore the world? Her answer seems to be that this is not only possible, but essential. This story shows how. I think it will open doors for many.”
    –
 Elizabeth Gilbert, bestselling author of Eat Pray Love & The Signature of All Things
“Leigh Ann Henion's exhilarating book (and life!) is everything the title suggests and more. Reading PHENOMENAL will give you courage—courage to explore the world we live in, and further, courage to explore yourself. With moments of breath-stealing beauty, wild intelligence, and unrelenting honesty, PHENOMENAL is a true gift for everyone who's ever been curious.”
   – Ruth Ozeki, bestselling and prize-winning author of A Tale for the Time Being

WE ARE ALL COMPLETELY BESIDE OURSELVES
Karen Joy Fowler (Marian Wood Books, Putnam/ May 30, 2013)
Serpent’s Tail (United Kingdom); Goldmann (Germany); Kinneret (Israel); Albatros (Czech) Aylak Kitap (Turkey); Ponte alle Grazie (Italy); La Magrana (Catalan); Soft Press (Bulgaria)
Now in paperback!
Short-listed for the 2014 Man Booker Prize
Currently in development for TV by the creator of “Friends”

Karen Joy Fowler’s latest novel is dazzling and provocative, wickedly funny yet emotionally devastating. The author of THE JANE AUSTEN BOOK CLUB returns in her sixth and most accomplished book yet, proving what a magus she is. With her amazing sleights of hand and skewering, pitch-perfect punch lines, Karen Joy Fowler brings us a family of loving but fallible people whose well-intentioned actions have devastating consequences.
Our narrator is Rosemary Cooke. As a child, she never stopped talking; as a young woman, she has wrapped herself in silence, guarding herself. Something happened so awful she has buried it in the recesses of her mind. It changed Rosemary forever—and it destroyed her family.

A New York Times Best Seller
Winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction
The 83rd Annual California Book Award's Gold Medal
Indie Next Pick • Finalist for the Nebula Award
ELLE Magazine’s Reader’s Prize
“A novel so readably juicy and surreptitiously smart, it deserves all the attention it can get… [T]his is a story of Everyfamily in which loss engraves relationships, truth is a soulful stalker and coming-of-age
means facing down the mirror, recognizing the shape-shifting notion of self.”
            – Barbara Kingsolver, front page of The New York Times Book Review

Named a Best Book of 2013 by: The New York Times Book Review, Slate, NPR, Chicago Tribune, The Christian Science Monitor, and Library Journal.

 “A gripping and surreptitiously intelligent book about a family’s falling apart after a young daughter is sent away… The book is far deeper and more ambitious, however, than its central conceit would lead one to think.”  Khaled Hosseini, bestselling author of THE KITE RUNNER

It really is a magnificent piece of work. My greatest joy has been handing it to people and telling them they have to read it. They keep coming back to tell me how much they loved it.”
 Ann Patchett, bestselling and Orange Prize-winning author of BEL CANTO

“Read this goddamn book.”           Gawker

Fowler's novel is superb….Fowler's smart and exquisitely sad novel provokes us to think about a lot of aspects of our relationship to animals that most of us would rather ignore.”
            – Maureen Corrigan, National Public Radio’s “Fresh Air”
THIS IS HOW I’D LOVE YOU
Hazel Woods (Plume, August 26, 2014)
Novo Conceito (Brazil); Diana Verlag/RH (Germany); Koridor (Turkey)   

In this powerful and beautifully told love story, Hensley Dench finds herself accidentally corresponding with an American soldier who is stationed in France during World War I. Hensley’s father, Sacha, has been fired from his job at The New York Times for protesting the war too loudly, but Sacha is a sympathetic soul who volunteers to be a “pen pal,” supporting and encouraging the soldiers who are in battle. Sacha has been writing to Charles, a young medic who shares his love for chess. When Hensley interrupts their letters with a few whimsical drawings on the envelope, she and Charles begin a correspondence of their own…

“Through the dark nights, I have figured and re-figured my every move in the chess game I am playing with your father, but I cannot solve the puzzle of you.”

As their real lives become increasingly fraught on both sides of the Atlantic, Hensley and Charles fall deeply in love on paper, clinging to each other’s words and allowing themselves the freedom to dream that one day they might meet. Heart-wrenching and transporting, THIS IS HOW I’D LOVE YOU is a celebration of language, and the sort of unshakeable love that mere words can build on paper.

Praise for Hazel Woods:

“In This is How I'd Love You, Hazel Woods explores the enduring nature of an improbable love born of words, washed in tragedy, and sustained despite impossible circumstances. With prose as immediate and evocative as a painting, Woods accomplishes the magic of rendering sorrow into hope and fear into courage. It is as idealistic a tale as it is clear-sighted, a brilliant alchemy few novels achieve. Readers, prepare to melt.”
– Robin Oliveira, author of My Name is Mary Sutter

“Here is a fresh and ultimately uplifting story, such a rare reading experience. In the midst of the horror of the Great War is the hope and tenderness of an unlikely correspondence between a spirited young woman Hensley Dench and heroic medic on the Western Front Charles Reid. Oh, how I warmed to these two characters who come up from the page and demand we listen to their stories. This beautifully crafted first novel from Hazel Woods is a wonderful achievement. I would say it's a must-read but that phrase is so over-used. Let me say you will not regret the investment. It pays back a thousandfold.

– Mary Rose MacColl, author of In Falling Snow
THIS IS HOW I'D LOVE YOU is a heart-wrenching novel, one that reminds us some love isn't so easy. Some love must shatter anonymity, survive war, cross oceans, carve its own path. Love like Hensley and Charles isn’t so easy, no, but it’s more than worthwhile.
We all deserve love like Hensley and Charles.

RUSSIAN TATTOO: A Memoir
Elena Gorokhova (Simon & Schuster, January 2015)
Windmill (UK); DTV (Germany)

In her memoir of culture shock, of displacement, of motherhood and motherlands, Elena Gorokhova dazzles us once again “with a novelist’s gift for threading motives around the heart of a story” (The New York Times Book Review). Elena Gorokhova’s first book A MOUNTAIN OF CRUMBS sold in seven countries and was embraced by reviewers and readers alike. But where that memoir explores what happens when you leave home, RUSSIAN TATTOO tackles finding your place in a strange new country and learning to embrace it.

Gorokhova writes with vulnerability, guilt, and resolve, and depicts her eventual triumph, leaving us with a memoir both universal and profoundly personal. Though it’s a follow-up memoir, RUSSIAN TATTOO stands alone and shines with grace and humor. Back in Russia, Robert had swept Elena off her feet, and away from the harsh reality of communist life. But in Texas, he’s cold, impatient with her mistakes and her awe. Sent away to live with Robert’s mother, Elena vows to make a life for herself—despite feeling like Natasha Rostova waiting for a dance in War and Peace. This is the immigrant experience: Equal parts incredible and cruel.

PRAISE for RUSSIAN TATTOO:

“This incredibly powerful book slips into your unconscious with charm and warmth and then grabs you by the gut. By the time you reach the end, you’ll have experienced the laughter, sorrow, joy, regret, love and hurt of a real life. And you’ll have a lump in your throat the size of Petersburg. With a magical command of language, Elena Gorokhova has painted images on my brain I won’t forget, as if I’d lived those moments myself. Because, somehow, I did.”
           
Alan Alda, Emmy-award winning and Oscar-nominated actor and author of the
            NYT bestselling Never Have Your Dog Stuffed & Other Things I’ve Learned
Russian Tattoo is the story of mothers and daughters, of three generations of strong women battling for control. It is about loss and grief, wounds that sever our souls in half and never heal. It is ultimately the story of love, forgiveness, and the desire to belong.”
           
Anya von Bremzen, author of Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking
PRAISE for A MOUNTAIN OF CRUMBS:

 “An enthralling read.”            – J.M. Coetzee, Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature

“Gorokhova is a lush and beautiful writer.”  – NPR's All Things Considered

“The Russian equivalent of Angela’s Ashes.” – Billy Collins, two-time US Poet Laureate

 “What is it about A Mountain of Crumbs that makes it so damn readable? . . . This is a rich experience—a personal journey paralleled by huge national changes and ending in a deeply satisfying portrait of peace in America.”

 Frank McCourt, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Angela’s Ashes

THE GIRLS FROM CORONA DEL MAR
Rufi Thorpe (Knopf/ July 8, 2014)
Vulkan Izdavastvo (Serbia); Novo Conceito (Brazil); Random House (United Kingdom); Epsilon (Turkey); btb/Random House (Germany); Sonzogno/ Rizzoli (Italy)     

THE GIRLS FROM CORONA DEL MAR is a novel of friendships—how childhood bonds challenged by loss, illness, parenthood, and distance, either break or sustain. Mia and Lorrie Ann are lifelong friends: hard-hearted Mia and untouchably beautiful, kind Lorrie Ann. While Mia struggles with a mother who drinks, a pregnancy at fifteen, and younger brothers she loves but, despite that love, mistreats, Lorrie Ann is luminous. Lorrie Ann is surrounded by her close-knit family, immune to the mistakes that mar her best friend's life, until a sudden loss catapults Lorrie Ann into tragedy. Things fall apart, and then fall apart further—and there is nothing Mia can do to help. As good, kind, brave Lorrie Ann stops being so good, Mia begins to question just who this woman is and what that question means about them both.

Praise for Rufi Thorpe:
Long-listed for the Flaherty-Dunnan First Novel Prize
Long-listed for the Dylan Thomas Prize 
IndieNext Pick • Amazon’s “Best of the Month” for July

“Just when you believe the ubiquitous “literature is dead” declarations are true, there comes a novel like The Girls from Corona del Mar.”           – Boston Herald

The Girls From Corona del Mar is a slim book that leaves a deep impression. Mia and Lorrie Ann are vivid and fully formed, and their stories provoke strong emotions that linger like lived memory. Thorpe is a gifted writer.”
Los Angeles Times

“This is a ravishing, stay-up-all-night-reading kind of novel – a sad, funny, almost impossibly good debut about a friendship that spans decades and continents, adolescence, motherhood, addiction and, improbably, joy. How well can we ever know another person? How known can we ever be? Every sentence is like a ringing buoy or a slap in the face: Rufi Thorpe can write. Let’s just hope she can write quickly, so we can read more soon.”
More Magazine

 “The Girls From Corona del Mar (Knopf) is a knockout of a debut novel”
ELLE Magazine

“This literary novel will leave readers questioning the myths and realities of complicated friendships.”
Booklist

“A nuanced portrait of two women who are sisters in everything but name.”
           – Publishers Weekly


JULIA AND THE ART OF PRACTICAL TRAVEL
LESLEY M.M. BLUME
(Knopf Books for Children, March 10, 2015)

 “Brilliant, unusual writing.”The Chicago Tribune

It’s 1968 and clever, precocious Julia Lancaster has spent her entire eleven years on the secluded Windy Ridge estate, getting into trouble with her best friend Belfry and trusty camera. After Grandmother’s unexpected death, Julia’s sensible Aunt Constance knows they must sell their beloved estate, and…once summer is over, it will be time for Julia to attend Miss Horton’s boarding school for girls.

But first Julia and Constance embark on a quest to find Julia’s mother, who abandoned the family long-ago and whose mystery leads them on a series of adventures across the country.
From sabotaging a dinner party in New York City to meeting Voodoo Queens in New Orleans, Julia’s hijinks are unexpected, full of heart, and endlessly amusing. Although, in Julia’s words, “the sky is the sky wherever you go,” she realizes people and places and things you find along the way make travel a little wild, sometimes sad, and entirely worthwhile.

By the bestselling author (over 300,000 copies) of CORNELIA AND THE AUDACIOUS ESCAPADES OF THE SOMERSET SISTERS, this new novel will remind readers of classics like Eloise and Because of Winn-Dixie. Shining with wonderfully evocative descriptions and accompanied by original black-and-white photographs, JULIA AND THE ART OF PRACTICAL TRAVEL will appeal to all young readers looking for an adventure.

“Blume is a writer to watch.”  – Publishers Weekly
“A fascinating mixture of whimsy and reality.” – Library Journal

Other children’s books by Lesley Blume:
THE WONDROUS JOURNALS OF WENDELL WELLINGTON WIGGINS
(Knopf, August 7, 2012)

MODERN FAIRIES, DWARVES, GOBLINS, AND OTHER NASTIES
(Knopf, January 1, 2010)

TENNYSON
(Knopf, August 25, 2009) (Vietnam)   

CORNELIA AND THE AUDACIOUS ESCAPADES OF THE SOMERSET SISTERS
(Knopf, July 11, 2006) Holp Shuppan (Japan)    

A Book Sense Children’s Pick Kirkus Top Pick for Reading Groups
Reviewers compare Lesley M.M. Blume to
Flannery O’Connor, Eudora Welty, and Truman Capote!
LESLEY M.M. BLUME
Books for Adults

In 2010, Chronicle Books released to great acclaim Let’s Bring Back, Ms. Blume’s cultural encyclopedia celebrating hundreds of forgotten-yet-delightful objects, pastimes, fashions, delectables, and personalities from bygone eras. Following the massive success of this initial volume, Chronicle has since released topic-specific new editions of Let’s Bring Back, including Let’s Bring Back: The Cocktail Edition (Fall 2012) and Let’s Bring Back: The Lost Language Edition (Spring 2013), as well as a line of ancillary products. Also now available is a line of Let’s Bring Back-inspired jewelry, created by renowned design house Lulu Frost.


No one expected the comparable Schott’s Almanac to take off, but it ran in Britain for an inspired six editions and in the U.S. and Germany for three editions each!! Like Schott’s Almanac, Let’s Bring Back can be edited for a foreign audience if desired.
Blume longs to bring back sealing wax, fainting couches, top hats, and elbow-length gloves. With the astounding success of The Great Gatsby film and a world-wide fascination with all things vintage, there couldn’t be a better time to send Blume’s stylish, alluring brand abroad!
Praise!
 “Blume’s history of cocktails and bars will have you laughing out loud as you mix.” 
           Good Housekeeping
Let’s Bring Back: The Cocktail Edition is such good reading—it’s a mix of cocktail lore, recipes, anecdotes, and quotations—that even a teetotaler would enjoy it.”
             The Paris Review

The Friedrich Agency now controls rights to the Let’s Bring Back series, excluding
UK/ANZ

ALL THINGS TRULY WICKED (Eamon Dolan Books, HMH/ Spring 2016) 
ALL THINGS TRULY WICKED tells the truly wicked tale behind Ernest Hemingway’s THE SUN ALSO RISES. With an incredibly stylish yet scholarly approach, Blume will unearth the truth behind Hemingway’s explosive, timeless novel, including the real-life versions of its incendiary characters.

We wickedly await Blume’s behind-the-scenes look at SUN ALSO RISES.
Manuscript not yet available, delivery in Spring 2015!

Lesley M. M. Blume is an author, journalist, and cultural observer based in New York City. A regular contributor to The Wall Street Journal and Vanity Fair, Blume’s work has appeared in many prestigious publications, including Vogue, Slate, and The Daily Beast. She is a contributing editor at Departures magazine and was a founding contributing editor for The Huffington Post

Visit Lesley Blume’s website for more news:
www.lesleymmblume.com



FORTY ACRES
Dwayne Alexander Smith (Atria/ July 1, 2014)
Droemer (Germany); Faber (UK); Dobrovsky (Czech Republic) 

“A thought-provoking novel that, like a wave, builds strength and intensity as it moves forward. Smith has done something special here using as his primary tools earnest, straightforward language and an eye and ear that probes bone-deep. This story will resonate long after the last page has fallen.”
David Baldacci, #1 New York Times bestselling author of King and Maxwell

Lightning-fast, controversial, and immensely thought-provoking

In this debut novel, young attorney Martin Grey has just won the biggest case of his life against superstar lawyer Damon Darrell. Instead of holding a grudge, Damon welcomes Martin into a small inner circle of powerful black men, and Martin jumps at the chance to build his career. When the elite group invites him to join their “bonding trip” and leave town for the weekend, Martin embraces the opportunity, despite his wife’s suspicions and misgivings. What follows is a horrific spiral into isolation, history, and vengeance—Martin finds himself fighting for his life.

Vice President and Editorial Director of Atria, Peter Borland says: “If you’re looking for a book that will ruffle some feathers, rattle a few cages, and even tip a sacred cow or two, all while keeping you glued to the page with compelling storytelling, Forty Acres by Dwayne Alexander Smith is for you.”


Praise for FORTY ACRES:
Superstar Whoopi Goldberg recommended the book to her 830,500 Facebook fans!
“I just started Dwayne Alexander Smith's new book Forty Acres. First of all it's a thriller and the premise is pretty amazing and unique. Might be a great last beach read. Summer days almost over. Check it out!”

“Forty Acres is an absolutely enthralling thriller, one that also has the capacity to challenge the readers' perceptions of right and wrong.  With supreme confidence and a mastery of storytelling, the author asks hard questions, provides no easy answers…  But delivers maximum suspense.  It’s an unforgettable work by an amazing new voice.  Easily my favorite of the year.”
John Ridley, Academy Award-winning screenwriter of Twelve Years A Slave

“Wow! FORTY ACRES is a thriller in a class all by itselfbrilliant and scary. The characters are masterfully well-drawn—Martin was so vulnerable and his confusion grew on me so that I ultimately cared and worried about him. I was on the edge of my seat!”
Terry McMillan, New York Times bestselling author of Waiting to Exhale and
Who Asked You?



PETER PAN MUST DIE
John Verdon (Crown/ July 1, 2014)

Roca (Spain); Proa (Catalan); Koridor (Turkey); Grasset (France); Soft Press (Bulgaria); Keter (Israel); Sextante (Brazil); Dioptra (Greece); Boekerij (Holland); Heyne (Germany);
Gummerus (Finland); Piemme (Italy); Corpus (Russia)

International thriller sensation John Verdon has done it again—his new novel PETER PAN MUST DIE will enrapture, puzzle, and TERRIFY. Fans across 30 countries have been waiting, asking John directly on Facebook: What’s next?!     

From the title of the latest John Verdon thriller PETER PAN MUST DIE, you’ll know this time David Gurney isn’t searching for “whodunit” but rather, WHY? Someone has hired an infamous assassin to murder wealthy real estate developer Carl Spalter, at the funeral for his mother, no less! But when Carl’s wife is sentenced to life in prison, rogue cop Jack Hardwick is convinced there was a sloppy investigation. Recently fired for helping Gurney during The Good Shepherd case (LET THE DEVIL SLEEP) Hardwick pleads with Gurney to take a closer look at the Spalter murder. Something is clearly VERY wrong, but for reasons no one suspects…

Once again Gurney is pulled into the dark, dangerous world of organized crime and a disturbing family where sons, daughters, brothers, and wives are prime murder suspects. Against Madeleine’s pleading and his own fears, Gurney hunts down the serial killer, named for the beloved children’s character Peter Pan. But how can Gurney catch a killer who’s never been seen? One whose very existence is a rumor? And will Gurney himself make it out alive…?

PRAISE for PETER PAN MUST DIE:
“The denouement in Peter Pan Must Die is one of the most unusual in crime fiction, and yet it’s perfectly logical. Verdon’s cleverness shines again.
Miami Herald

“Gurney is the nearly prototypical tortured semi-genius ex-cop detective. He's surpassingly brilliant, sort of a cross between the logician Einstein, the philosopher Confucius, the master detective Sherlock Holmes, and the courageous Lone Ranger.”
The Examiner

“One of the truly great puzzle mysteries of the year.”
            Bookreporter

“After four books, we still love following the life and evolution of Dave Gurney. Verdon’s portrayal of the protagonist is brilliant ... Peter Pan Must Die is a thrilling read. The rhythm of the novel keeps you on the edge until the last pages – John Verdon has done it again.”
            – Downtown Magazine

The Puzzle Master reigns!

Visit www.johnverdon.net or his Facebook page for updates


THE FRANGIPANI HOTEL
Violet Kupersmith (Spiegel & Grau/ April 1, 2014)

THE FRANGIPANI HOTEL blends the old with the new in this haunting, unusual exploration of ghosts, circling one that continues to haunt—the Vietnam War. Violet Kupersmith writes, as she lives, on the crossroads of tradition and modernity; Vietnam and America; realism and fantasy. A tremendous debut that will leave you gasping for this wunderkind’s novel-in-progress.

Praise for THE FRANGIPANI HOTEL:

“Subversively clever debut collection…These stories — playful, angry, at times legitimately scary — demonstrate a subtlety of purpose that belies her youth.”
            The New York Times Book Review

“Surgically precise and feverishly imaginative.” – Téa Obreht, author of The Tiger’s Wife

“The stories shimmer with life.” Starred review in Publishers Weekly

“Kupersmith writes lyrically haunting tales; she’s a writer to watch.” Kirkus

“These stories will haunt you long after the last words have drifted off the page.”
            – Lisa See, bestselling author of Dreams of Joy    

“These are stories written from wildly different perspectives, and yet the ghosts feel vitally familiar. There's a lightness of touch to these stories, which are playful and wise, an astonishing feat for a young writer who graduated from Mount Holyoke College three years ago.”
            – The Chicago Tribune

 “Each of the stories is replete with characters both fabulous and ordinary, stories out of this world and firmly rooted in it. Each is meticulously told by a storyteller talented and wise beyond her years. “
Shelf Awareness

“What is most haunting in Kupersmith’s nine multilayered pieces are not the specters, whose tales are revealed as stories within stories, but the lingering loss and disconnect endured by the still living… A mature-beyond-her-years debut.”Library Journal (starred review)





“In this auspicious ­volume, ­Kupersmith has reshaped and woman­handled traditional Vietnamese folktales that her grandmother told her into a wildly energetic, present-tense fusillade.”
            – Elle Magazine

“In this impressive debut, Violet Kupersmith displays a remarkable gift for voice and setting. Using history and horror, mystery and imagination, she has created this vivid collection of haunted and haunting stories. Highly recommended.”
 Karen Joy Fowler, bestselling author of We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves


LISA SCOTTOLINE  
Published in 35 countries • Over 30 million books in print
New York Times Best Seller • Edgar Award Winner
Costco’s “Staff Picks” Promotion • Chosen for World Book Night
KEEP QUIET (St. Martin’s Press/ April 8, 2014) 
Bertrand (Portugal)
Headline (UK) just bought the rights to not one, not two, but SEVEN books!
“Scottoline is a star.” – TIME

KEEP QUIET opens with our protagonist, Jake, feeling that he and his teenage son Ryan just don’t connect anymore. Late one night Ryan begs Jake to let him drive the car, even though he doesn’t have his official license yet. As soon as they switch places, Ryan opens up to Jake finally, even telling him about one of the girls he likes from school. While they’re both laughing and bonding, they hear and feel a huge THUD. Pulling over, they find a young woman’s body on the road…and nothing can be done, she’s been killed. Frantically weighing their options Jake makes a snap decision to leave the scene with his son, telling no one. The story follows the pair as their lives spiral out of control, and includes a completely unexpected suspense plot…

ACCUSED is the long-awaited return of the all-female law firm Rosato & Associates! An underdog story for readers who love smart, page-turning legal thrillers ACCUSED follows a beloved cast of strong, relatable women. Mary has just been promoted to partner and is about to take on her most unusual case yet: Thirteen-year-old, beekeeping genius Allegra Gardner believes her sister’s murderer, who pleaded guilty, was in fact wrongly imprisoned six years ago.
PRAISE for Lisa Scottoline
"I'm a huge fan of Lisa Scottoline's Rosato & Associates series. The plots are twisty and the pace never quits!"
        – Kathy Reichs, bestselling author of the Temperance Brennan novels and the hit TV series        
           based on her work Bones
 “The pace is relentless, the twists are jaw-dropping. Scottoline is a powerhouse.”
        – David Baldacci, #1 NYT bestselling author of 23 books, sold in 80 countries
 “You could get whiplash just turning a page. Scottoline knows how to keep readers in her grip.”          The New York Times
A masterpiece of maternal unease…sharp social commentary with breathless suspense.”                  Maureen Corrigan for National Public Radio

Lisa Scottoline is the Edgar award-winning and New York Times bestselling writer of over 20 novels, and was recognized for her supreme achievements with the position of President for the Mystery Writers of America in 2011. With non-fiction essay collections, emotional suspense, and Rosato mysteries—Lisa Scottoline is on bookstore shelves consistently throughout the year.
Visit www.scottoline.com for more updates
Follow @LisaScottoline & Friend: https://www.facebook.com/LisaScottoline



COMING SOON from The Friedrich Agency!

WOOF: Book One in the Bowser & Birdie Series 
Spencer Quinn (Scholastic, May 2015, “Ages 8 and up”)

“Spencer Quinn speaks two languages—suspense and dog—fluently.”
– Stephen King

There is trouble brewing in the Louisiana bayou—Bowser can smell it. Bowser is a very handsome and only slightly slobbery dog, and he can smell lots of things. Like bacon. And rawhide chews! And the sweat on humans when they’re lying.

Birdie Gaux, the girl Bowser lives with, also knows something is wrong. It’s not just that her grammy’s stuffed prize marlin has been stolen. It’s the weird rumor that the marlin is linked to a missing treasure. It’s the truck that seems to be following Birdie and the bad feeling on the back of her neck.

Birdie and Bowser decide to dig into the mystery, but not even Bowser’s powerful sniffer can smell just how serious the threat is. And when the danger comes straight for Birdie, Bowser knows it’s time to unleash justice.

Manuscript available in February 2015, just in time for Bologna!


PIECE OF MIND
Michelle Adelman (Norton, February 2016)

Lucy, the unique narrator of Michelle Adelman's debut novel, lives with a traumatic brain injury. She's intelligent and quirky, socially awkward. She's never been able to hold down a job or live independently. PIECE OF MIND follows Lucy's journey to find herself and her place in the world during a life-changing summer at the age of thirty-five. 

What's amazing about this novel is the author's absolute restraint. A graduate of the Columbia MFA program, Michelle has a light but powerful touch. You fall in love with Lucy as she negotiates her way from the false safety of the suburbs to a cramped studio apartment somewhere in the East Village. You root for her—she's utterly real, tender, funny, flawed. 

"Like the Tourettes-ticcing Lionel Essrog in Jonathan Lethem's MOTHERLESS BROOKLYN, or the obsessive-compulsive Mona Gray in Aimee Bender's AN INVISIBLE SIGN OF MY OWN, Michelle Adelman's heroine—and she definitely is that—travels a path that is by nature solitary, yet intersects with all that is best in ourselves.  I hope you'll root for Lucy's success as much as I do."  

            – Helene Wecker, author of THE GOLEM AND THE JINNI

 Manuscript not yet available… we anticipate the final by December 2014



BOOKS FOR WHICH THE PUBLISHER CONTROLS RIGHTS

JACKABY
William Ritter (Algonquin, September 16, 2014)
The Friedrich Agency controls Film and TV rights

Newly arrived in New Fiddleham, New England, 1892, and in need of a job, Abigail Rook meets R. F. Jackaby, an investigator of the unexplained with a keen eye for the extraordinary—
including the ability to see supernatural beings. Abigail has a gift for noticing ordinary but important details, which makes her perfect for the position of Jackaby’s assistant. On her first day, Abigail finds herself in the midst of a thrilling case: A serial killer is on the loose. The police are convinced it’s an ordinary villain, but Jackaby is certain it’s a nonhuman creature, whose existence the police—with the exception of a handsome young detective named Charlie Cane—deny.

“Ritter’s debut skillfully blends science with the supernatural and balances whimsy with violence. The smartly paced plot wraps up neatly, but the rich world of this debut demands sequels.” – Kirkus (starred review!)

“Toss together an alternate 19th-century New England city, a strong tradition of Sherlockian pastiche, and one seriously ugly hat, and this lighthearted and assured debut emerges, all action and quirk.” – Publishers Weekly


WE SHOULD HANG OUT SOMETIME
Josh Sundquist (Little, Brown BFYR, December 16, 2015)
The Friedrich Agency controls Film and TV rights

From the author of the national bestseller Just Don’t Fall comes a hilarious new memoir for the teen audience We Should Hang Out Sometime. By revisiting “the ones who got away,” Josh examines his life, touching on issues such as self-esteem, living with a disability, religion, and family dynamics. Sometimes heart-breaking, always in good humor, Josh Sundquist tells all about his teen and young adult quest for love

Josh Sundquist is an author, cancer survivor, motivational speaker, YouTube personality and Paralympic ski racer. He has spoken across the world to groups ranging from Fortune 500 companies to inner city public schools to the White House.

Praise for WE SHOULD HANG OUT SOMETIME:
"Often hilarious, occasionally awkward, and always hopeful, Josh's quest for love will have readers rooting for him all the way."
            – Jennifer E. Smith, author of The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight 

"Josh Sundquist has written a sharp, funny memoir without an ounce of self-pity about how the fear of rejection can be far more crippling than any disease. A hilarious, heartfelt reminder that finding the courage to accept love is an inside job."
            – Aaron Hartzler, author of Rapture Practice



KALAHARI
Jessica Khoury (Razorbill, Penguin/ February 25, 2015)
 
When an educational safari goes wrong, five teens find themselves stranded in the Kalahari Desert without a guide. It’s up to Sarah, the daughter of zoologists, to keep them alive and lead them to safety, calling on survival know-how from years of growing up in remote and exotic locales. Battling dehydration, starvation and the pangs of first love, she does her best to hold it together, even as their circumstances grow increasingly desperate.

But soon a terrifying encounter makes Sarah question everything she’s ever known about the natural world. A silver lion, as though made of mercury, makes a vicious, unprovoked attack on the group. After a narrow escape, they uncover the chilling truth behind the lion’s silver sheen: a highly contagious and deadly virus that threatens to ravage the entire area—and eliminate life as they know it. In this breathtaking new novel by the acclaimed author of Origin and Vitro, Sarah and the others must not only outrun the virus, but its creators, who will stop at nothing to wipe every trace of it.



BECOMING JINN
Lori Goldstein (Feiwel & Friends, Macmillan / May 12, 2015)

Forget everything you thought you knew about genies!

Azra has just turned sixteen, and overnight, her body lengthens, her olive skin deepens, and her eyes glisten with gold thanks to the brand-new silver bangle that locks around her wrist. As she always knew it would, her Jinn ancestry brings not just magical powers, but the reality of a life of servitude, as her wish granting is controlled by a remote ruling class of Jinn known as the Afrit. To the humans she lives among, she’s just the girl working at the snack bar at the beach, navigating the fryer and her first crush. But behind closed doors, she’s learning how to harness her powers and fulfill the obligations of her destiny. Mentored by her mother and a small community of Zar “sisters,” Azra soon discovers she may not be quite like the rest of her circle of female Jinn . . . and that her powers could endanger them all. Lori Goldstein’s debut sparkles with all the magic, humor, and romance that readers wish for!














JOYRIDE
Anna Banks (Feiwel & Friends, Macmillan / June 2, 2015)
Author of the New York Times–bestselling Syrena Legacy

Who says opposites don’t attract?
It’s been several years since Carly Vega’s parents were deported. Carly lives with her older brother, studies hard, and works the graveyard shift at a convenience store to earn enough to bring her parents back from Mexico.

Arden Moss used to be the star quarterback at school. He used to date popular blondes and have fun pranking with his older sister, Amber. But now all that’s changed, and Arden needs a new accomplice. Especially one his father, the town sheriff, will disapprove of. 

All Carly wants, at first, is to stay under the radar and do what her family expects. All Arden wants is to not do what his family expects. When their paths cross, they each realize they’ve been living according to the wishes of others. Carly and Arden’s journey toward their true hearts—and one another—is funny, romantic, and sometimes harsh.  Just like real life.



LOOT: How to Steal a Fortune 
Jude Watson (Scholastic, June 24, 2014)
The Friedrich Agency controls Film and TV rights
Optioned by Will Smith’s company Overbrook/ Columbia Pictures,
With Willow and Jayden Smith slated to star!

By bestselling and National Book Award-winning author Jude Watson (Judy Blundell) comes LOOT, an adventure full of hijinks, heists, and high-octane fun. On a foggy night in Amsterdam, a man falls from a rooftop to the wet pavement below. It's notorious jewel thief Alfie McQuinn and he's dying. As sirens wail in the distance, Alfie manages to get out two last words to his young son, March: "Find jewels."

But March learns that his father is not talking about a stash of loot. He's talking about Jules, the twin sister March never knew he had. No sooner than the two find each other, they're picked up by the police and sent to the world's worst orphanage. It's not prison, but it feels like it.

March and Jules have no intention of staying put. They know their father's business inside and out, and they're tired of being pushed around. Just one good heist, and they'll live the life of riches and freedom most kids only dream about. Watch out! There are wild kids on the loose and a crime spree coming . . .









THE ALPHA WOMAN MEETS HER MATCH
Sonya Rhodes, PhD with Susan Schneider (Morrow, April 15, 2014)
Goldmann (Germany); Charron (France & Canada); Citadella (Slovak); Citadella (Czech); Gente (Brazil); Mora (Hungary); REBIS (Poland)

Relationship therapist Sonya Rhodes's liberating, straight-talking guide convincingly argues that successful modern women—the audience who embraced Lean In—can find the right guy without having to change or settle, and tells them how to do it.
In the twenty-first century, women are outpacing men in education and career advancement. Yet amazingly, successful women constantly hear that their professional achievements doom their chances of marriage and family.
Don't believe the alarmist hype, advises top relationship therapist Dr. Sonya Rhodes. Today's Alpha women—ambitious, self-assured, and hardworking— aren't going to end up lonely spinsters. They don't have to settle for Mr. Good Enough. Echoing Sheryl Sandberg's powerful message, The Alpha Woman Meets Her Match shares the secret necessary to triumph in love and work: find the right partner. It can be done—and Dr. Rhodes has the tools to help.

A TALE FOR THE TIME BEING
Ruth Ozeki (Viking/ March 12, 2013)
Am Oved (Israel); Text (Australia/NZ); Belfond (France); Casa da Palavra (Brazil); Canongate (UK); Ambos/Anthos (The Netherlands); Ponte (Italy); Klidarithmos (Greece); Planeta (Spain); Penguin (Canada); Fischer Verlag (Germany); Albatros (Czech); Polirom (Romania); Mehta (India); PT Gradien Mediatama (Indonesia); Parodi (Turkey); AST (Russia); Foskal (Poland); Xiron (China); Hayakwa (Japan); MEarnest (Thai); Millennium (Bulgaria); Profil (Croatia); Tiderne Skifter (Denmark); Forum (Sweden); Linking Publishing (Taiwan); Baltos Lankos (Lithuania); Tea Kiado (Hungary); BOOKA (Serbia)
Please direct inquiries to Canongate (UK).

Winner of the LA Times Book Prize
Shortlisted
for the Man Booker Prize
Winner of the Medici Book Club Prize
Winner of Le Prix Littéraire des Lycéennes
Shortlisted for the National Book Critics Circle Award
Winner of the Kitchie Award for “Progressive, intelligent, & entertaining fiction”

From the award-winning filmmaker and novelist, Ruth Ozeki, comes a novel that will forever change the way we relate to the fiction in our lives. In A TALE FOR THE TIME BEING, an author named Ruth finds the diary of a suicidal Japanese teenager, which washes up on the shore of Ruth’s Canadian island as part of the first wave of Tsunami debris. Fascinated by the teenager’s voice and story, Ruth embarks on a literary journey that soon transcends her understanding of the line between fiction and reality. A truly international story, this novel instantly converts each of its readers into a member of its passionate army of advocates.

British Independent Booksellers Award • New York Times Best Seller



THE BURGESS BOYS
Elizabeth Strout (Random House/ March 26, 2013)
Luchterhand/RH (Germany); Fazi (Italy); Hayakawa (Japan); El Aleph (Spain); Ediciones 1984 (Catalan); S&S (UK, Australia, New Zealand); Eksmo (Russia); Korea (Munhakdongne); Hunan (China, Simplified); Pegasus (Turkey); General Press (Hungary); Ciela Norma AD (Bulgaria)       

Now an HBO Miniseries!
Longlisted for the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction
                   New York Times Best Seller • NPR’S Best Books of 2013
The Washington Post’s Most Notable Works of Fiction of 2013
# 1 on the Indie List • # 16 on the USA Today List
# 6 on the Barnes and Noble Best Seller List •Spiegel Best Seller in Germany
Indie Next Pick • Amazon Best Book of the Month • Powell’s Favorite

“[A] fluid and compassionate new novel . . . Strout handles her storytelling with grace, intelligence and low-key humor, demonstrating a great ear for the many registers in which people speak to their loved ones.” – New York Times Book Review

“Strout’s prose propels the story forward with moments of startlingly poetic clarity.”
            – New Yorker

“Wincingly funny, moving, wise.” – Good Housekeeping, 20 best books of fiction, 2013

A stunning new work of fiction from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Olive Kitteridge, Strout’s newest novel effortlessly tackles larger themes of race and class, seamlessly interwoven with inimitable portrayals of rich family relationships. Meet the Burgess brothers: Jim and Bob, both New York City lawyers. But there the similarities end. Jim, the golden boy and firstborn of the family, and Bob, his kind and quieter younger brother, will find both their lives irrevocably altered when they are called back to their hometown in Maine by their sister Susan, after a thoughtless prank committed by Susan’s son—Jim and Bob’s 19-year-old nephew Zach—rocks their small community and unleashes a national scandal. As the novel unfolds, layers of family history are peeled away to reveal the heartbreaking deception and loss that has informed both the brothers’ personal and professional lives for decades.

Elizabeth Strout is the author of Amy & Isabelle, Abide With Me, and Olive Kitteridge. Olive, in addition to winning the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, was also the recipient of the Premio Bancarella in Italy, and the 2010 Bookseller’s Prize (El Premi Llibreter), given by the Guild of Booksellers in Barcelona.  www.elizabethstrout.com


Foreign for OLIVE KITTERIDGE: General Egyptian (Arabic- Egypt only), 1984 (Catalan), Thinkingdom (China S), Profil (Croatia), Jota (Czech), Batzer & Co. (Denmark); Atlas (The Netherlands), Archipoche (France), Luchterhand/ RH (Germany), Agyra (Greece), Opus (Israel), General Press (Hungary), Yayasan Andi (Indonesia), Fazi (Italy), Hayakawa (Japan), Munhakdongne (Korea), Nasza Ksiegarnia (Poland), Bertrand (Portuguese -Brazil), Casa das Letras (Portugal), Litera (Romania), Azbooka (Russia), Profil (Serbia), El Aleph (Spain), Amarin (Thailand), Pegasus (Turkey), S&S (UK/BC), Tre (Vietnam)