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Frankfurt Book Fair 2013 Catalogue Women’s Fiction *** Contacts Anna Jarota ajarota@ajafr.com

Anaïs Parouty Women’s Fiction aparouty@ajafr.com

* Frankfurt Book Fair 2013 Women’s Fiction List RECENTLY SOLD HOT TITLES LIFE AT THIS MOMENT, Cynthia Swanson

THE SHADOW QUEEN, Sandra Gulland

EMBER ISLAND, Kimberley Freeman

THE NANTUCKET BRIDES TRILOGY, Jude Deveraux

TAKEDOWN TWENTY, Janet Evanovich

THE CHASE, Janet Evanovich

BLOSSOM STREET SERIES, Debbie Macomber

UNTITLED NOVEL, Jodi Picoult

UNTITLED, Annie Barrows

ALL THE THINGS YOU ARE, Clemency Burton-Hill

THE PROPOSAL, Tasmina Perry

DEEP BLUE SEA, Tasmina Perry

THE DEEPEST SECRET, Carla Buckley

UNTITLED, Darcie Chan

COMMERCIAL THE FLAVOURS OF LOVE, Dorothy Koomson

FOR ONCE IN MY LIFE, Marianne Kavanagh

OPEN, Sarah Dunn

THE FIRST AFFAIR, Emma McLaughin & Nicola Kraus

MATING FOR LIFE, Marissa Stapley

PACK UP THE MOON, Rachael Herron

THE MOUNTAIN STORY, Lori Lansens

THE WIDOW WALTZ, Sally Koslow

BROOKLYN GIRLS, Gemma Burgess

SOMEONE TO LOVE, Cathy Woodman

MAGGIE HOPE MYSTERIES, Susan Elia MacNeal

THE SCOUT DAVIS SERIES, Maggie Groff

MOONRISE, Cassandra King

JUST A GIRL, STANDING IN FRONT OF A BOY, Lucy-Anne Holmes

THE BOOK OF SECRETS, Elizabeth Joy Arnold

UPMARKET CARTWHEEL, Jennifer duBois

UNDER THE WIDE AND STARRY SKY, Nancy Horan

LUCKY US, Amy Bloom

THE WIVES OF LOS ALAMOS, TaraShea Nesbit

THE EFFECT OF HER, Gerry Stembridge

COMING HOME, Sue Gee

SWEETHEART DEALS, Beth Raymer

RIDLEY ROAD, Jo Bloom

THE END OF ALWAYS, Randi Davenport

MANNEQUIN GIRL, Ellen Litman

SUSPENSE RUIN FALLS, Jenny Milchman

CURRAWONG MANOR, Josephine Pennicott

POET’S COTTAGE, Josephine Pennicott

ROOM FOR LOST SOULS, Lezanne Clannachan

JELLYBIRD, Lezanne Clannachan

HUSH LITTLE BABY, Suzanne Redfearn

HISTORICAL UNDER THE JEWELLED SKY, Alison McQueen

THE RUSSIAN TAPESTRY, Banafsheh Serov

DARK AEMILIA, Sally O’Reilly

ANGELS MAKE THEIR HOPE HERE, Breena Clarke

FLYING TIME, Suzanne North

THE PRESIDENT’S LUNCH, Jenny Bond

AFTER THE BOMBING, Clare Morrall

THE OUTCASTS, Kathleen Kent

EROTICA S.E.C.R.E.T #3, L. M. Adeline

WANTED, Julie Kenner

RECENTLY SOLD

THE ROSE PETAL BEACH By Dorothy Koomson Quercus 2012, Editions Belfond Rights Holder: Anthony Harwood Icelandic (Forlagid); Portuguese (Porto Editora), English UK (Quercus), Lithuanian (Alma Littera), Turkish (Dogan)

**#17 in Hardback Bestseller Chart** **Sales for The Rose Petal Beach have reached 54,000 copies across all editions**

THORNWOOD HOUSE By Anna Romer Simon & Schuster 2013, Presses de la Cité (pre-empt) Rights Holder : The Plot Lounge German (Goldmann/Random House, at auction

*Listed on ‘50 Aussie Books You Can’t Book Down’ Australia’s annual list compiled by booksellers, authors, publishers and readers.

READING IN BED By Sue Gee Headlin Review 2008, Leduc.s Editions Rights Holder: MBA Literary Agents German (Piper)

“Sue Gee is a magnificent writer...love in all its forms is at the centre of this heart-warming tale” - Daily Express “As seductively readable as its title suggests, it draws the reader in with its skilful portrayal of real-life situations” - The Times

RECENTLY SOLD

SOMEDAY, SOMEDAY, MAYBE By Lauren Graham Ballantine 2013, Bragelonne Rights Holder: Random House US Dutch (Unieboek), German (Fischer), Hungarian (Gabo Kiado), Italian (Sperling), Portuguese/Brazil (Record)

**Ellen DeGeneres is to produce the novel into TV Series** “Warm and funny, charming and smart.” --Diane Keaton

CONFESSIONS OF A JANE AUSTEN ADDICT By Laurie Viera Rigler Dutton 2007, Bragelonne Rights Holder: Marly Rusoff & Associates Dutch (Archipel), English/Uk (Bloomsbury), Italian (Sperling & Kupfer)

**Nominated for a 2009 Regency World Award for Best New Fiction**

RUDE AWAKENINGS OF A JANE AUSTEN ADDICT By Laurie Viera Rigler Dutton 2007, Bragelonne Rights Holder: Marly Rusoff & Associates English (Bloomsbury), Italian (Sperling & Kupfer)

"[Rigler] knows her Austen, and her heroine Courtney Stone lives it." – Boston Herald "Both books are quick, humorous reads that offer subtle social commentary." – Columbus Ledger-Enquirer

RECENTLY SOLD

SOMERSET By Leila Meacham Grand Central 2014, Leduc.s Editions Rights Holder: McCormick & Williams Bulgarian (Bard), Czech (Euromedia), Dutch (De Kern), German (Page & Turner/Random House), Norwegian (Gyldendal), Russian (Hemiro)

“A terrifically entertaining novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Roses”

THE STARK TRILOGY By J. Kenner Bantam 2012 2013, Michel Lafon Rights Holder: Random House US English/UK & Commonwealth (Headline), German (Diana Verlag / Verlagsgruppe RH), Slovenian (Mladinska Knjiga), Turkish (Inkilap)

**NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER** Praise for Complete Me “The conclusion of the Stark trilogy features the intense, all-consuming passion that readers have come to expect from Kenner’s sensual prose and a tense, brooding narrative. . . . The revelations come fast, heightening the emotions of the series’ conclusion, reaching a fever pitch.”—RT Book Reviews (four stars) “The roller coaster events of Complete Me give this novel a page-turning quality... Immensely satisfying.”—Heroes and Heartbreakers “Complete Me is a perfect ending to the [Stark] trilogy... You won’t be disappointed.” —Fresh Fiction

Women’s Fiction HOT TITLES

LIFE AT THIS MOMENT By Cynthia Swanson Original Publisher: HarperCollins US (pre-empt) First Publication: TBA Rights Holder: Einstein Thompson Agency Rights sold: German (Heyne/Random House – pre-empt), Italian (Garzanti – pre-empt), Spanish (Salamandra) Material: first manuscript (325pp)

**A haunting, beautiful debut novel that will keep you turning pages late into the night…** Denver, 1962: Kitty Miller loves her unconventional life. She runs Sisters Bookshop with her best friend, Frieda, and, unmarried, enjoys a bohemian freedom that allows her to do what she wants, when she wants. And then the dreams begin. Denver, 1963: Katharyn Andersson is married to Lars, the love of her life. They have beautiful children, an elegant, modern home, and an active social life. The only hitch: this is all a dream. The more Kitty dreams, the more real her dream-world seems, and the more reluctant she is to leave it. But where is Frieda in her dream-world, and the other people from her actual life? Can she choose which life she wants? If so, what is the cost of staying Kitty, or becoming Katharyn? Cynthia Swanson is a writer and a mid-century modern designer. She has published short fiction in 13th Moon, Kalliope, and Sojourner, among other periodicals. Her story in 13th Moon was a Pushcart Prize nominee. She lives in Denver, Colorado, with her husband and three children.

Women’s Fiction HOT TITLES

THE SHADOW QUEEN By Sandra Gulland Original Publisher: Doubleday First Publication: Spring 2014 Rights Holder: Westwood Rights Sold: Bulgarian (Colibri), Canadian (HarperCollins) Material: manuscript (390 pp) "Sandra Gulland is at the top of her game in The Shadow Queen and that's saying a lot! From the first page you know you are in the hands of a master storyteller. I just don't think anyone does it better than Gulland ─ this book is lyrical, fascinating and seeped in history, drama and emotion. Truly magnificent and an absolute joy to read." ─ M.J. Rose, International Bestselling author of The Book of Lost Fragrances Claudette des Œillets is the impoverished and socially scorned daughter of itinerant actors who nevertheless rises to become the confidential attendant to the most powerful woman in the 17th century court: Madame de Montespan, mistress of the charismatic king, also known as the Shadow Queen. Claudette’s life is like an ever-revolving stage set: in the First Act, she’s the starving child of a family of caravan players, devoted to tending her beloved "halfwit" baby brother; in the Second, she’s with the greats of French theatre – Pierre Corneille, Molière, Racine – witnessing her mother’s amazing rise to stardom in the fantastical (but cutthroat) world of the 17th century stage; in the Third, she’s front and center in the dazzling world of the charismatic Sun King. Insinuating herself throughout the worlds of the theatre and Court is the witch Catherine Voisin, sometimes benevolent, but ultimately ruthless, a woman willing to sacrifice innocent lives to satisfy the corrupt desires of her wealthy clients. A woman who ultimately pays for her sins on the pyre – but not without exposing the rot at the heart of these glittering worlds. Claudette rises from poverty to a position of power because of her loyalty. But Claudette’s socalled "respectable" position requires her to obtain love potions and other magical charms, as well as to occasionally satisfy the King’s sexual needs (thereby bearing him a daughter). As the mercurial Shadow Queen becomes ever more desperate to hold onto the King’s sexual favour, innocent love charms move into the realm of deadly Black Magic, and Claudette must choose between betraying a trust and doing the right thing. Sandra Gulland is the author of the Josephine B. Trilogy (France: Stock), which has sold over a million copies worldwide, and has been published in 17 languages. Gulland spent many years researching her novel, Mistress of the Sun (La Maîtresse du Soleil, Canada (Hurtubise Editions), France (France Loisirs), and in the interest of perfecting the book’s rich details, she acquired a library of over 200 books on the Louis XIV period, rode horseback for a week in France’s Loire Valley (45 km a day) and spent a silent week in a convent. Mistress of the Sun has been published in 9 languages.

Women’s Fiction HOT TITLES

EMBER ISLAND By Kimberley Freeman Original Publisher: Hachette Australia First Publication: September 2013 Rights Holder: The Plot Lounge Rights Sold: English/US & Canada (Simon & Schuster), Greek (Dioptra), Turkish (Beyaz Balima), Rights to previous works sold: Dutch (De Kern), English/ANZ (Hachette Australia), English/UK (Quercus), English/US & Canada (Touchstone/Simon & Schuster), German (Droemer Knaur), Greek (Dioptra Publishing), Hungarian (Athenaeum), Italian (Leone Editore S.r.l.), Latvian (Apgads Kontinents), Norwegian (Cappelen Damm), Polish (Nasza Ksiegarnia), Russian (AST), Slovakian (Slovensky Spisovatel),

Material: manuscript (448 pp) A compelling tale of secrets and scandal spanning nineteenth-century England to contemporary Australia from much loved author Kimberley Freeman 1891: Orphaned as a small child, Tilly Kirkland found a loving, safe home with her grandfather in Dorset. But nineteenth-century England is an unforgiving place for a young woman with limited means and as her grandfather's health fails, it seems perfect timing that she meets Jasper Dellafore. Yet her new husband is not all he seems. Alone in the Channel Islands, Tilly finds her dream of a loving marriage is turning into a nightmare. 2012: Bestselling novelist Nina Jones is struggling with writer's block and her disappointing personal life. Nothing is quite working. After a storm damages Starwater, her house on Ember Island, she decides to stay for a while and oversee the repairs: it’s a perfect excuse to leave her problems behind her on the mainland. Then Nina discovers diary pages hidden in the walls of the old home. And a mystery unravels that she is determined to solve. Though the two women are separated by years, Starwater House will alter the course of both their lives. Nina will find that secrets never stay buried and Tilly learns that what matters most is trusting your heart. Kimberley Freeman is the pen name of award-winning speculative fiction author and academic Kim Wilkins uses for her commercial women’s fiction. She was born in London, grew up in Brisbane and lives in Queensland. She has degrees in English Literature and Creative Writing. Her work has been translated into twelve languages. Her women’s fiction includes Duet (2007; winner of the Ruby Award), Gold Dust (2008), Wildflower Hill (2010) and Lighthouse Bay (2012). http://kimberleyfreeman.com

Women’s Fiction HOT TITLES

THE NANTUCKET BRIDES TRILOGY By Jude Deveraux Original Publisher: Ballantine First Publication: July 2013 (book 1), August 2014 (book 2) Rights Holder: Random House US Rights sold: Russian (AST), Spanish (Ediciones B), UK/BC (Headline). Previous publishers (France): PDLC, J’ai Lu, Pocket. Material: manuscript book 1 (463pp), manuscript book 2 coming soon “A novel about star-crossed love, life, death and reincarnation... a romantic story of love so deep it survives centuries.” —Kirkus Reviews Jude Deveraux returns with a fantastic new series—the Nantucket Brides trilogy set on the magical Massachusetts island of Nantucket. In the first novel, we meet Alix Madsen who is finishing up architectural school when Adelaide Kingsley dies and wills her, for one year, the use of a charming nineteenth-century Nantucket house. Alix accepts the quirky bequest, in part because it gives her time to plan her best friend’s storybook wedding. But unseen forces move behind the scenes, creaking Kingsley House’s ancient floorboards. It seems that Adelaide Kingsley had a rather specific task for Alix: to solve the strange disappearance of one of the Kingsley women, Valentina, more than two hundred years ago. If that wasn’t troubling enough, Alix must deal with the arrogant (and extremely good-looking) architect Jared Montgomery, who is living in the property’s guesthouse. Unbeknown to Alix, Jared has been charged with looking after her while she lives on the island—an easy task for him, considering the undeniable chemistry between the two. But Jared harbors secrets of his own, which, if revealed, may drive a wedge between the pair. With a glorious Nantucket wedding on the horizon, sparks fly, and the ghosts of the past begin to reveal themselves—some of them literally. Finding their lives inextricably entwined with the turbulent fortunes of their ancestors, Alix and Jared discover that only by righting the wrongs of the past can they hope to be together. In the second novel, we encountered Toby Wydnam who is always so busy helping others she never has time for herself. Graydon Montgomery is heir to the Lanconian throne, and desperate for a week of freedom from his royal duties before he has to marry the eligible queen-in-training he unfortunately doesn't love. When they meet at a wedding, Toby is the only one able to tell Graydon apart from his twin, Rory -- an ability that supposedly marks her as his true love. Dismissing the legend as silly nonsense, Toby agrees to hide Graydon on Nantucket in exchange for his help planning the lavish wedding of bestselling novelist Victoria Madsen. Toby and Graydon are determined to be just friends, but as July slips into August, the romantic island paradise casts its spell and soon it seems like maybe Victoria won't be the only Nantucket bride this summer. Jude Deveraux was a teacher in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She left her job when her first book, The Land of Enchantment, was accepted for publication by Avon books. Jude’s exhaustive research on every aspect of her books has made for a rich and detailed background for each of her novels. Her stories are adventurous, funny, and at times heartwarming. Jude has had over thirty books on the New York Times Bestsellers List, over 60 million copies in print, and has been translated into 18 languages.

Women’s Fiction HOT TITLES

TAKEDOWN TWENTY By Janet Evanovich Original Publisher: Bantam First Publication: November 2013 Rights Holder: Random House US Rights sold: English/UK & Commonwealth (Headline), German (Random House) Option Publisher: France (Univers Poche) Material: manuscript coming soon ** #1 New York Times bestselling author, Janet Evanovich continues with the enormously successful Plum series ** Stephanie Plum knows better than to mess with family. But when powerful mobster Salvatore “Uncle Sunny” Sunucchi goes on the lam in Trenton, it’s up to Stephanie to find him. Uncle Sunny is charged with murder for running over a guy, and nobody wants to turn him in. Even Trenton’s hottest cop, Joe Morelli, has skin in the game, because—just Stephanie’s luck—the godfather is his actual godfather. And while Morelli understands that the law is the law, his old-world grandmother, Bella, is doing everything she can to throw Stephanie off the trail. It’s not just Uncle Sunny giving Stephanie the run-around. Security specialist Ranger needs her help to solve the bizarre death of a top client’s mother, a woman who happened to play bingo with Stephanie’s Grandma Mazur. Before Stephanie knows it, she’s working side by side with Ranger and Grandma at the senior center, trying to catch a killer on the loose—and the bingo balls are not rolling in their favor. With bullet holes in her car, henchmen on her tail, and a giraffe named Kevin running wild in the streets of Trenton, Stephanie will have to up her game for the ultimate takedown. Janet Evanovich has sold more than 75 million copies of her 35 novels worldwide!

THE CHASE By Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg Original Publisher: Bantam First Publication: March 2014 Rights Holder: Random House US Rights sold: English/UK & Commonwealth (Headline), German (Random House), Portuguese/Portugal (20/20)

Material: manuscript expected December 2013 Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg comes back with the second Fox and O'Hare novel in their exciting new suspense series. FBI Agent Kate O' Hare is a force of nature, and she's lived for one thing and one thing only: to put the slippery conman known as Nicolas Fox behind bars. Nick is a fed's worst nightmare: exceptionally talented in his line of work, known the world over for being able to pull off some of the most dangerous, high-profile cons. In a cruel twist of fate, Kate's bosses at the FBI force her to covertly partner up with Nick to take down big league crime.

Women’s Fiction HOT TITLES

BLOSSOM STREET SERIES By Debbie Macomber Original Publisher: Ballantine First Publication: April 2013 (book 1) April 2014 (book 2) Rights Holder: Random House US Rights sold: English/UK (Arrow/Random House UK), Hungarian (General Press), Norwegian (Cappelen Damm), Portuguese/Portugal (Porto), Portuguese/Brazil (Novo Conceito), Turkish (Epsilon),

Option Publisher: France (Charleston) Material: manuscripts available (book 1: 352pp/ book 2: 502pp) **By #1 New York Times bestselling author** **Starting Now debuted at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list** STARTING NOW – Book 1 For years Libby Morgan has sacrificed everything for her career. When her boss calls Libby into his office, she assumes it will finally be good news, but she’s actually been let go and must rebuild her entire life. With no job prospects in sight, Libby reaches out to old friends and spends her afternoons at A Good Yarn, the local knitting store. There she forms a close bond with Lydia, the sweet-natured shop owner; Lydia’s spirited teenage daughter, Casey; and Casey’s best friend, Ava, a shy yet troubled girl who will shape Libby’s future in surprising and profound ways. As A Good Yarn becomes a second home, Libby relishes the different person she’s become. She even finds time for romance. But just as everything is coming together, Libby must make a choice that could forever change the life she holds so dear.

BLOSSOM STREET BRIDES – Book 2 Lydia Hoffman's shop, A Good Yarn, is a fixture on Blossom Street, where friends gather for comfort and good company. Lauren Elliott has waited years for her long-term boyfriend to propose, yet he's more focused on his career than their relationship. When Lauren learns that her younger sister is pregnant, she feels overjoyed yet a bit disheartened, so she makes a bold choice ─ one that leads her to a man she never dreamed she'd meet. Newly married to her second husband, Bethanne Scranton is blissfully in love. But their long-distance marriage is becoming difficult to maintain and Bethanne's ex has returned. And while Lydia is happy with her husband, lately she worries about the future of a her shop, until she discovers that someone has been leaving baskets of yarn all over town, with instructions to knit a scarf and bring it into the store. Never before has her shop received so much attention, but who hatched this brilliant plan? Debbie Macomber has more than 130 million copies of her books in print. Four of her titles have debuted at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list. In July 2011, the Romance Writers of America presented her with their prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award. She also has been honored with a Quill Award for her novel 44 Cranberry Point, a RITA and RT Book Reviews Awards.

Women’s Fiction HOT TITLES

UNTITLED NOVEL By Jodi Picoult Original Publisher: Ballantine First Publication: October 2014 Rights Holder: Random House US Rights sold: ANZ (Allen and Unwin), Chinese (Commercial Press); Dutch (House of Books), German (Random House), Polish/3 titles (Proszynski Media), Portuguese/Portugal (Presença), English/UK (Hodder)

Option Publisher: France (Michel Lafon) Material: manuscript expected November 2013

“Nobody in commercial fiction cranks the pages more effectively than Jodi Picoult” —USA TODAY “Picoult writes with unassuming brilliance.” — Stephen King “It's hard to exaggerate how well Picoult writes.” — Financial Times “Ms. Picoult is a solid, lively storyteller.” —The New York Times There are more than 22 million copies in print of Picoult’s 19 novels, translated into 37 languages. The last six—LONE WOLF, SING YOU HOME, HOUSE RULES, HANDLE WITH CARE, CHANGE OF HEART, and NINETEEN MINUTES—débuted at #1 on the New York Times Hardcover Fiction Bestseller list. The Boston Globe says, “Picoult writes with a fine touch, a sharp eye for detail, and a firm grasp of the delicacy and complexity of human relationships,” with the Vancouver Sun adding about her most recent novel that “she is the master of building a compelling story around a controversial issue.”

Women’s Fiction HOT TITLES

UNTITLED By Annie Barrows Original Publisher: Random House First Publication: April 2015 Rights holder: Random House US Rights to previous work sold: Albanian (OMSCA-1), Arabic (Arabic Scientific Publishers), Bulgarian (Colibri), Catalan (Ara Llibres), Chinese—Complex (Yuan Liou), Chinese—Simplified (Thinkingdom), Croatian (Novela), Czech (Euromedia), Danish (Borgen), Dutch (Artemis), English/Australia (Allen & Unwin), English/UK (Bloomsbury), Finnish (Otava), French (Laffont), German (Kindler/ Rowohlt), Hebrew (Kinneret Zmora), Hungarian (Park), Icelandic (Bjartur), Italian (Sonzogno), Korean (Vision B&P), Latvian (Zvaigzne ABC), Lithuanian (Versus Aureus), Marathi (Mehta), Norwegian (Schibsted), Polish (Bertelsmann), Portuguese—Brazil (Rocco), Portuguese/Portugal (Santillana), Romanian (Corint), Russian (Phantom), Serbian (Laguna), Slovak (Slovensky Tatran), Slovene (Zalozba Sanje), Spanish (RBA), Swedish (Bromberg), Thai (Kraten), Turkish (Epsilon)

Option Publisher: France (Robert Laffont) Material: manuscript expected January 2014

** By the co-author of the best-selling Guernsey Literary And Potato Peel Society ** The first in a 2-book deal with Annie Barrows, co-author with her late aunt Mary Ann Shaffer of the bestselling Guernsey Literary And Potato Peel Society, which has been licensed in over 35 territories, and sold over three million copies worldwide. Barrow’s novel, set in 1930s America, will follow the fortunes of a rich spoiled girl who is forced by her father to head down south to take a job working in a small town in West Virginia. She rooms with an oddball family who opens her eyes in a whole new way to the world around her, falling in love along the way. As with Guernsey, this novel is inspired by the Barrows’ own family history. Annie Barrows is also the author of the celebrated Ivy + Bean series for children.

Women’s Fiction HOT TITLES

ALL THE THINGS YOU ARE By Clemency Burton-Hill Original Publisher: Headline First Publication: October 2013 Rights Holder: Furniss Lawton Material: manuscript (384 pp)

A rich, tense and absorbing novel of a woman's journey to Jerusalem from Manhattan to follow her heart, no matter what the cost. When New York journalist Natasha Bernstein loses her job and discovers her fiancé has been keeping a dark secret, her world collapses. Turning to her family, she takes inspiration from her formidable grandmother Esther, who runs a community centre in downtown Manhattan. As she starts to rebuild her life, Natasha's friendship with Rafi ─ the enigmatic architect working on Esther's centre ─ restores her sense of wonder at the world and her faith in who she is. But when Rafi and Natasha take a trip to Jerusalem, they are plunged into a story far deeper than their own. Here, questions of family and loyalty mean more than life itself, and they must ask themselves what they are ultimately prepared to fight for. In a divided world, is it history or love that makes us who we are?

Clemency Burton-Hill is a broadcaster for BBC Radio 3, BBC television and Channel 4, and has written about the arts, politics and culture for FT Weekend Magazine, The Economist’s Intelligent Life, Guardian, Independent and Wall Street Journal. All The Things You Are is her second novel.

Praise for The Other Side of the Stars “Compulsively readable” – Marie-Claire “Authentic and involving” – Woman & Home

Women’s Fiction HOT TITLES

THE PROPOSAL By Tasmina Perry Original Publisher: Headline (UK) First Publication: November 2013 Rights Holder: Furniss Lawton Material: manuscript (326 pp) Escape with Tasmina Perry in this modern fairytale that moves between past and present, encompassing debutantes, 1950s New York, country estates and a secret love buried in time. When Amy Carrell's wealthy boyfriend ends their relationship just before Christmas, she's left to nurse her broken heart alone. With nothing to lose, she replies to an advertisement requesting a companion for a mysterious 'Manhattan adventure'. With eccentric British aristocrat Georgia Hamilton, Amy experiences a glamorous side of the city that she's never seen before. Along the way, Georgia initiates her protégée in the arts of old-school elegance. But as Georgia shares her life lessons, Amy discovers a painful secret in her mentor's past. A secret that shattered her future. A story of love and betrayal that only Amy has the power to put right.

DEEP BLUE SEA By Tasmina Perry Original Publisher: Headline First Publication: July 2013 Rights Holder: Furniss Lawton Option Publishers: Czech (BB Art), Norwegian (Cappelen Damm), Hungarian (Ulpius-Haz) Material: manuscript (448 pp) “Had me hooked from start to finish” Daily Mail “Thrilling…packed with suspense and exotic locations” Closer “Fast-paced and enthralling” Heat With a blissful marriage, a darling son and beautiful homes in London and the country, Diana’s life, to the outside world, is perfect. When her husband dies suddenly and tragically, Diana is convinced there is more to it than meets the eye. She calls on the one person she had never wanted to see again – her sister, Rachel who appears to be living the dream as a diving instructor on a Thai island. The truth is she’s in exile, estranged from her family and driven from her career by Fleet Street's phone-hacking scandal. For Rachel, Diana’s request opens old wounds. But she is determined to make amends for the past, and embarks on a treacherous journey to uncover the truth – wherever it may lead…

Tasmina Perry is the Sunday Times bestselling author of novels such as Daddy's Girls, Kiss Heaven Goodbye and, most recently, Deep Blue Sea. She left a career in law to enter the world of women's magazine publishing, going on to become an award-winning writer and contributor to titles such as Elle, Glamour and Marie Claire.

Women’s Fiction HOT TITLES

THE DEEPEST SECRET By Carla Buckley Original Publisher: Bantam First Publication: February 2014 Rights Holder: Random House US Rights sold: German (Goldmann Verlag, pre-empt), Italian (Nord, pre-empt) Material: manuscript (442 pp)

"Every family is vulnerable. There are dangers no parent can prevent: a sick child, a tragic driving accident. In The Deepest Secret, Carla Buckley masterfully portrays an ordinary family driven to despair by misfortune and an almost unimaginable disease — unimaginable but all too real. A book to make you shudder and count your blessings." ─ William Landay, author of Defending Jacob “The Deepest Secret gets under your skin—when you’re not reading it, you’re thinking about it. The first 50 pages already draw you in, but then Buckley sets a hook that makes it impossible not to race to the end to find out what happens.” --#1 internationally bestselling author Linwood Barclay Diagnosed with XP, a rare medical condition which makes him lethally sensitive to light, Tyler is a thirteen-year-old who desperately wants just one thing: to be normal. His mother Eve also wants just one thing: to protect her son. As Tyler begins roaming their cul-de-sac at night, cloaked in the safety of the darkness, he peers into the lives of the other families on the street─looking in on the things they most want hidden. Then, the young daughter of a neighbor vanishes, and Tyler may be the only one who can make sense of her disappearance... but what will happen when everyone's secrets are exposed to the light? Her first two books brought Carla in but The Deepest Secret will absolutely solidify Buckley's reputation at the top of women's fiction lists, appealing to the readership of Lisa Unger and Nancy Pickard with her complex, riveting, poignant stories exploring the themes of family secrets and forgiveness. Carla Buckley was born in Washington, D.C. She has worked as an assistant press secretary for a U.S. senator, an analyst with the Smithsonian Institution, and a technical writer for a defense contractor. She lives in Columbus, Ohio, with her husband, an environmental scientist, and their three children. She is the author The Things That Keep Us Here, which was nominated for a Thriller Award as a best first novel and the Ohioana Book Award for fiction.

Women’s Fiction HOT TITLES

UNTITLED By Darcie Chan Original Publisher: Ballantine First Publication: September 2014 Rights Holder: Random House US Rights to previous work sold: English/UK & Commonwealth (Sphere), French (MA Editions), German (Schroeder Marion Von), Italian (Nord), Spanish (Ediciones B) Material: manuscript (397 pp) ** By the author of the eBook sensation The Mill River Recluse ** From the bestselling author of the self-published, The Mill River Recluse, comes a new novel set in the fictional small town of Mill River, Vermont. The story is about a mother's struggle to find her footing and raise her two young daughters after tragically losing her husband, and how years later the two estranged sisters must reconcile in order to inherit from their mother's will. This is a story of loss, forgiveness, and the importance of family and features secondary characters from, THE MILL RIVER RECLUSE, an eBook original which has sold over 700,000 copies, appeared on the New York Times and USA Today bestseller lists for more than 28 weeks! Darcie Chan was born in Wisconsin and currently lives outside of New York City with her husband and son. Her next novel in the series will be published in Fall 2015.

Praise for The Mill River Recluse "Chan's sweet novel displays her talent." - Kirkus Reviews "...a real page-turner." - IndieReader.com “A touching story that encompasses the whole gamut of human behaviour with love and charity” - Red

COMMERCIAL Women’s Fiction

THE FLAVOURS OF LOVE By Dorothy Koomson Original Publisher: Quercus First Publication: November 2013 Rights Holder: Antony Harwood Limited Rights to previous works sold: Chinese (Huawentianxia),Croatian (Znanje), Czech (Domino), Danish (Thaning & Appel), Dutch (House of Books), Estonian (Varrak), French (Belfond), German (Diana), Greek (Minoas), Icelandic (Forlagid), Italian (Sperling & Kupfer), Lithuanian (Alma Littera), Norwegian (Damm), Polish (Albatros), Portuguese/Brazil (Editora Fundamento), Portuguese/Portugal (Porto Editora), Romanian (Polirom), Russian (Hemiro), Serbian (Laguna), Spanish (RBA), Taiwanese (Sun Color), Swedish (Nortedts), Turkish (Alfa/Dogan Egmont)

Option Publisher: Belfond Material: manuscript coming soon “I'm looking for that perfect blend of flavours; the taste that used to be you. If I find it, I know you'll come back to me.” It's been 18 months since my husband was murdered and I've decided to finish writing The Flavours Of Love, the cookbook he started before he died. Everyone thinks I'm coping so well without him – they have no idea what I've been hiding or what I do away from prying eyes. But now that my 14-year-old daughter has confessed something so devastating it could destroy our family all over again, and my husband's killer has started to write to me claiming to be innocent, I know it's only a matter of time before the truth about me and what I've done is revealed to the world. My name is Saffron Mackleroy and this is my story. Dorothy Koomson is the author of six bestelling novels, The Cupid Effect, The Chocolate Run, My Best Friend’s Girl, a Richard & Judy summer-reading selection in 2006 and a major bestseller, with well over half a million copies sold to date, Marshmallows For Breakfast, Goodnight, Beautiful and most recently The Ice Cream Girls. Her books have been translated into over 30 languages and regularly top the bestseller charts across the world.

Praise for The Ice Cream Girls "Koomson takes the story to the darkest of places, creating a masterpiece of manipulation, that builds layer by chilling layer to an outstanding climax that will make you - and your goosebumps - shudder." - Daily Record 20

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FOR ONCE IN MY LIFE By Marianne Kavanagh Original Publisher: Text Publishing First Publication: 2014 Rights Holder: Adrian Weston Literary Agency Rights Sold to: Dutch (THB), English/UK & Commonwealth (Text Publishing), English/US (Emily Bestler Books/Simon & Schuster), German (Blanvalet/Random House), Italian (Garzanti), Portuguese/Brazil (Gente), Offers pending: Spain, Portugal Material: First ms Available (265pp) Tess and George are soul mates. But they never meet. They both live in London. They went to the same university. They have a wide circle of friends in common. But throughout their twenties, despite Fate’s best efforts, they never actually come face to face. Because of this, they’re stuck. They end up with partners who don’t understand their passions and ambitions. They are tied down by jobs that don’t suit them. Not being sure that they deserve very much more, they both settle for second best. Finally, when George is living in New York with his wife and baby daughter, and Tess has bought a flat in London with the boyfriend she’s about to marry, they meet at a friend’s thirtieth birthday party. But is it way too late? Can they disentangle themselves from their former lives and grab hold of their one chance to be together? This is a love story that teeters on the edge of disaster. George and Tess desperately need each other. But… Marianne Kavanagh is the mum of three teenagers, 19, 18 and 16. A former deputy editor of Marie Claire, she writes regularly for a host of titles, including the Telegraph, Easy Living and www.mydaily.co.uk.

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OPEN By Sarah Dunn Original Publisher: Little Brown First Publication: 2014 Rights Holder: Nicholas Ellison Agency Rights to previous works sold: Arabic (Arab Scientific), Bulgarian (Hermes), Chinese (Yazon Books/ Shanghai 99), Croatian (Ocean & More), Czech (Baronet), Danish (Aschehoug), Dutch (De Bezige Bij), Finnish (Tammi), German (Goldmann), Hebrew (Modan), Hungarian (Ringier), Italian (Sperling/ Salani), Japanese (Poplar-sha), Latvian (Zvaigzne ABC), Lithuanian (Alma Littera), Norwegian (Kagge), Polish (Bertelsmann), Portuguese/Brazil (Nova Fronteira), Portuguese/Portugal (Gailivro/Presença), Romanian (Editura Quality), Russian (FLC), Serbian (Laguna), Spanish (Alianza), Swedish (Bonniers), Taiwanese (Bliss), Turkish (Kapital Medya) Material: manuscript coming soon

A modern comic novel about a contentedly-married, child-swamped suburban couple who decide to save their sex lives by (temporarily) opening up their marriage.

Sarah Dunn is an American author and television writer. She was educated in the University of Arizona. Coming to prominence in 1994 with her book Official Slacker Handbook, Sarah Dunn went to Hollywood, where she wrote for such series as Murphy Brown, Veronica's Closet and Spin City. She also wrote Big Love, which was optioned by Universal Pictures for over one million dollars. Her lattest novel, Secrets to Happiness, was a super lead title in paperback, and was re-printed six times.

Praise for Sarah Dunn “Sarah Dunn is a wise and brilliant writer who doesn’t sacrifice emotional complexity for low humor – she gives you both.” ─ Time Magazine “Sarah Dunn achieves what so many authors set out to do but so few manage: She captures the Zeitgeist. If you can imagine a cross between Candace Bushnell and Edith Wharton, that is Sarah Dunn.” ─ Toby Young, author of How to Lose Friends & Alienate People “Sarah Dunn’s vivid characters and engaging voice will linger long after you’ve finished the last page!” ─ Emily Giffin, author of Something Borrowed

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THE FIRST AFFAIR By Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus Original Publisher: Atria First Publication: August 2013 Rights Holder: McCormick & Williams Rights to previous works sold: Catalan (Edicions 62), Chinese (Shanghai Riden Cultural), Croatian (Algoritam), Czech (Euromedia), Danish (Lademann), Dutch (House of Books / Prometheus / Vassallucci), English/uk (Penguin), Estonian (Pegasus), Finnish (Otava), French (Michel Lafon / Albin Michel), German (CBJ / Goldmann / Random House), Greek (Livanis), Hebrew/Israel (Kinneret-Zmora-Dvir), Hungarian (Ulpuis-Haz), Indonesian (PT Gramdia), Italian (Rizzoli), Japanese (Bungeishunju), Korean (Munhakassanga), Norwegian (Damm), Polish (Znak / Albatros), Portuguese/Brazil (Ediouro), Portuguese/Portugal (Editorial Noticias), Russian (AST), Serbian (Alnari / Nardona Kniga), Slovenian (Desk Publishing), Slovak (Ikar), Spanish (Santillana), Swedish (Bra Bocker), Taiwanese (Yuan-Liou), Thai (Bliss / Pearl Publishing), Turkish (Elips Kitap / Inkilap Kitaperi), Vietnamese (Tre Publishing / Hoa Hoc Tro)

Material: manuscrit (303pp)

“An utterly absorbing page-turner." ─ Booklist "McLaughlin and Kraus explore the dark side of fame...and provide an empathetic backstory to the sorts of salacious tales that readers see in the tabloids." ─ Publishers Weekly

In the latest novel from New York Times bestselling authors Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus (The Nanny Diaries), a young college graduate, Jamie McAllister, begins a prestigious internship at the White House. An unexpected flirtation with the handsome and charismatic President Rutland quickly leads to a sexual relationship, which she is ill-equipped to handle at twenty-two. Meanwhile, the opposing party is mobilizing to destroy the Rutland presidency by any means necessary. With shades of both Mimi Alford and Monica Lewinsky, Jamie McAllister is a young heroine to envy, to pity, and to root for. Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus are the New York Times bestselling authors of The Nanny Diaries, Citizen Girl, Dedication, Nanny Returns, and their young adult novels, The Real Real and Over You. They live in New York City.

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MATING FOR LIFE By Marissa Stapley Original Publisher: Simon & Schuster Canada / Atria US First Publication: 2014 Rights Holder: Transatlantic Agency Foreign Sales: Currently on submission in UK and Australia Material: manuscript (315 pp) For readers of Jennifer Close and Sadie Jones, this is a thoroughly entertaining and compelling debut novel for mainstream women fiction. Mating For Life takes an honest look at the inner lives of well off, youngish and middle-aged women who appear to have it all but don’t feel that way on the inside; revealing the truth about their marriages and relationships, while ultimately still embracing the redemptive power of love in all its forms by conclusion. Mating For Life follows the hippy matriarch Helen, a former folk singer and her three daughters born of different fathers, all of whom are struggling with the life they have chosen for different reasons. Liane, the youngest daughter, is about to marry her long-term boyfriend but is fraught with anxiety over finishing her thesis and the sense that she is with the wrong man. Ilsa, the middle sister, is a gorgeous artist who abandoned a bohemian life for the security of home and family and a well-off husband. Fiona, the eldest, has built a picture perfect existence that has no tolerance for error, and when her husband reveals an illegitimate daughter from his youth Fiona’s perfectionism turns into extremism. Meanwhile, Helen, who always warned her daughters not to marry, is secretly engaged to a kind and simple man that she can’t seem to bring herself to tell anyone about. Things between the sisters and their partners crack and unravel completely before they are each reassembled and set on the right path again. Proving the old adage that we are stronger in our broken places. Mating For Life is smart, funny, sexy and just wise enough to remind us that no one gets a free pass in life and love. Marissa Stapley is a former magazine editor who now writes freelance for The Globe and Mail, The National Post, Elle Canada and Today's Parent. She teaches creative writing at the University of Toronto, and editing at Centennial College. She currently lives in Toronto with her husband and two young children. MATING FOR LIFE is her first novel.

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PACK UP THE MOON By Rachael Herron Original Publisher: NAL (Penguin) First Publication: Summer 2014 Rights holder: Einstein Thompson Angecy Rights sold : English/Australia (Random House Australia) Material: manuscript (355pp)

** A poignant novel about loss, lies, and the unbreakable bonds of family.** On the worst day of her life, artist Kate Monroe opened her garage to find her nine-year-old son, Robin, and his father, Nolan, unconscious in the family car. Robin, already terminally ill with leukemia, didn’t survive, and Nolan went to jail for involuntary manslaughter, leaving Kate to cope with the loss of her family alone. Three years later, Kate is making small steps forward with her life, but feels she will be forever defined by her grief. Then Pree, the daughter Kate gave up for adoption 22 years before—the daughter Nolan never knew about— shows up at her gallery opening, and Kate’s drab world is illuminated by hope. Still, Kate hasn’t seen Nolan since he went to jail. Now she must find the courage to tell him the one thing that he might not be able to forgive. And Pree, who is not sure she needs another mother in her life, has a secret of her own, which could alter the lives of everyone around her. Pack Up The Moon is a beautiful novel about loss, lies, redemption, love, and the unbreakable bonds between parents and children. It is about picking up the pieces of a shattered life, and putting them back together, however imperfectly. Rachael Herron is the author of the Cypress Hollow romance novels (and bestsellers in Australia), and of the memoir A Life in Stitches. She is also an accomplished knitter, whose blog Yarn-a-Go-Go combines her two vocations and has a devoted following (approximately 83,000 unique visitors a month). The new direction of her writing will delight the fans she already has as well as drawing in the new readers her talent deserves. Rachael lives in Oakland, California.

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THE MOUNTAIN STORY By Lori Lansens Original Publisher: Knopf (Canada) First Publication: TBA Rights Holder: Bukowski Agency Rights Sold: Norwegian (Juritzen Forlag) Rights to previous works sold to: Dutch (De Bezige Bij), English/UK (Virago), English/US (Little Brown & Co), French/Canada (Alto), French/France (Edition 84/L’Archipel), Italian (Mondadori), Polish (W.A.B), Portuguese/Brazil (Bertrand), Turkey (Artemis Yayinlari)

Option Publisher: France (L’Archipel) Material Available: manuscript expected January 2014 A highly dramatic adventure story and a revealing examination of family dynamics. The Mountain Story is told by Wolf Truly, who on his eighteenth birthday got lost with three women for five days in the mountain wilderness just outside Palm Springs. Now an adult and a father, Wolf is writing this account of what really happened on the mountain for his son Danny, who has just started college. Wolf realizes that he owes his son the truth, for reasons that become clear in a shocking revelation at the end of the novel. Wolf had a rough youth, losing his mum when he was four, and being brought up by a dad who was more interested in the next conquest or bottle of scotch than in his son. Wolf has gone up the mountain to kill himself on the anniversary of the day his best friend, Byrd, had a tragic accident on the mountain, which had been the boys’ paradise and escape. Wolf meets the three women on the cable car on the way up, and through wonderfully plotted misadventure, the women end up lost and stranded. They can see the desert city below but cannot find their way down to it from the forested cliffs. Wolf goes from wanting to kill himself to wanting all of them to survive, through five days of hope and loss and injury and hypothermia and incredible self-revelation on the part of all four. Only three of them come down the mountain alive. Tense and gripping, The Mountain Story includes sex, death, deep emotion, and sacrifice. It’s more than an adventure story, but it is a highly dramatic adventure story, as well as a revealing examination of family dynamics. Lori Lansens was a successful screenwriter before she burst onto the literary scene in 2002 with her first novel Rush Home Road, which was published in eleven countries. Her follow-up novel The Girls, was an international success as well. Rights were sold in thirteen territories, selling 300,000 copies in the UK. Her third novel The Wife’s Tale is in development as a film.

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THE WIDOW WALTZ By Sally Koslow Original Publisher: Viking First Publication: June 2013 Rights Holder: Fletcher & Company Rights to previous works sold to: Chinese (Shanghai Yazon), Croatian (Algoritam), Dutch (Luitingh), English (Ballantine), English/ North America (Putnam), English/UK (LAW Agency), Estonian (Fantaasi), German (dtv), Macedonian (Kultura), Polish (Wydawnictwo Aurum), Russian (Ripol-Classic), Serbian (Alnari), Taiwanese (Nonagon Culture), Thai (Bliss), Turkish (Elips) Material: manuscript (339pp) “A modern-day urban fairytale…a story of reinvention with humor, intrigue and just the right touch of mid-life romance.” ─ Ann Bauer, author of The Forever Marriage "Reading a Koslow novel is like eating a top-of-the-line gourmet truffle..." ─ Jenna Blum, author of Those Who Save Us and The Stormchasers A warm and witty story of forgiveness, family, and emotional resilience that will appeal to readers of Cathleen Schine, Elizabeth Berg, and Anna Quindlen. When her husband dies and his shocking secrets are exposed, a pampered widow and her daughters discover just how strong and resilient they really are. Ben Silver had it all—a successful law practice, a New York apartment overlooking Central Park, a beach house, fine art, club memberships. Yet when a massive coronary fells him while training for the New York City Marathon, it’s revealed that his life was a lie. He’s left his wife Georgia Waltz and their two daughters almost penniless. Accustomed to a lavish life, Georgia must now rally to support her family while mourning a husband whose private enigmas keep surfacing. To her surprise, she also discovers that it may even be possible to find new love in the land of Spanx and wrinkles. Meanwhile, her daughters must face the responsibilities of adulthood that they have avoided, make strategic decisions and put their talents to work. All three of these remarkable women will find the grit to survive devastating losses and reinvent their lives. Sally Koslow is the author of three novels: With Friends Like These; The Late, Lamented Molly Marx and Little Pink Slips. Her essays have been published in More, O: The Oprah Magazine, and The New York Observer, among other publications. She was the editor-in-chief of both McCall’s and Lifetime, was an editor at Mademoiselle and Woman’s Day, and has taught creative writing at the Writing Institute of Sarah Lawrence College. 27

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BROOKLYN GIRLS By Gemma Burgess Original Publisher: St Martin’s Press (three-book deal) First Publication: July 2013 (book 1) / January 2014 (book 2) Rights Holder: MBA Agency Rights sold: Dutch (Sijthoff), English/UK (Quercus), German (Blanvalet), Italian (Modadori), Polish(Pascal), Spanish (Plaza), Material: manuscripts (book 1: 539 pp / book 2: 313 pp) “Replete with raunchy dialogue, drunken partying, and a mania for fashion, this book is at once derivative and entertaining.” ─ Booklist Fantastically funny and fresh Brooklyn Girls is the first novel in a brand new series about five twenty-something friends ─ Pia, Angie, Julia, Coco and Madeleine ─ sharing a brownstone in hip downtown Brooklyn, and discovering the ups, downs, ins and outs of adult life. One girl narrates each book so that over time you get to know them all well and really care about what happens in their complicated and exciting lives, full of emotion, fun, ups and downs, adventures... The novel perfectly captures the confusion, hilarity and excitement of the postgraduate years against a backdrop of the pressures and chaos of New York City life, with heartfelt empathy, fast humour and sharp honesty. PIA – LIFE BEGINS AT 22 The first book is Pia's story. She's sophisticated, spoilt, and stylish... and unemployed, unemployable, and broke. So what is a recent grad with an art history degree and an unfortunate history of Facebook topless photos to do? Start a food truck business, of course! Pia takes on the surprisingly cutthroat Brooklyn world of hybrid lettuce growers and starts Skinny Wheels ─ all while dealing with hipster bee-keepers, one-night-stands, heartbreak, parental fury, wild parties, revenge, jail, loan sharks, playboys, karaoke, true love, and one adorable pink food truck. And that's without counting her roommates' problems, too... ANGIE - LOVE AND CHAOS Broke. Brokenheart. Bored. Angie James is lost. A regular poster girl for Generation Screwed, life aged 22 isn’t exactly what she expected. Shouldn’t she feel a little more together by now? In the Brooklyn townhouse she shares with her best friends, Angie knows she should be happy. Instead, she presses self-destruct. Over and over again. Until the people she loves the most seem more distant than ever, and the bottom of a vodka bottle is easier to face than the future. It’s going to take a lot to find her way back… Who knew adulthood would be so damn grown-up? Gemma Burgess’ novels are stylish, sexy, funny, very urban and sassy. The Dating Detox and A Girl Like You were published by Avon (HarperCollins UK), to great acclaim and excellent sales – combined sales of ebook, helped by Amazon promotion, have reached 60,000 copies so far. You can learn more about her on her website: www.gemmaburgess.com

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SOMEONE TO LOVE By Cathy Woodman Original Publisher: Arrow/Random House First Publication: April 2014 Rights Holder: MBA Literary Rights to previous works sold: Czech (Vikend), English/US (Hyperion), German (Blanvalet), Norwegian (Aller Forlag) Material: manuscript coming soon “I absolutely loved this – it made me laugh and cry! Such a treat to read.” ─ Katie Fforde, on Country Loving Zara loves her job as a community midwife caring for mums-to-be and their babies, but her great regret is that she will never be able to have a child of her own. She is 30 years old and recently divorced, and is devastated when her ex husband’s new girlfriend gets pregnant. Zara has moved in with her grandmother who runs the newsagents in Talyton St George, to keep an eye on her because she is growing frail and forgetful. Out on her rounds Zara rescues an abandoned puppy and decides to adopt him. Big mistake! The puppy hasn’t a clue how to behave and Zara realises that although she is an expert in how to bring up a baby, she hasn’t any idea how to manage her delinquent dog. While out walking, the puppy embarrasses her when she meets local shepherd Lewis with his perfectly trained brace of collies. Lewis agrees to help Zara work with the puppy, but it soon becomes clear he has an ulterior motive. Can Zara risk another relationship so soon, is Lewis himself on the rebound from a recent break up – and what if he wants children… The course of true love never does run smooth – especially when there is a badly behaved puppy involved. Catherine Woodman won the Harry Bowling Prize in 2002 for her first novel, Under the Bonnet, which was snapped up by Headline. Her four contemporary romantic sagas, full of the comedy and drama of the ups and downs of family life, earned her many fans. Working as a vet was the ideal inspiration for her bestselling series for Arrow, which began with Trust Me I’m a Vet, she then published Must be Love, The Sweetest Thing, It’s a Vet’s Life, The Village Vet, Vets In Love and more recently Country Loving.

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MAGGIE HOPE MYSTERIES By Susan Elia MacNeal Original Publisher: Bantam First Publication: April 2012 (book 1), October 2012 (book 2), May 2013 (book 3), June 2014 (book 4) Rights Holder: Random House US Rights sold: Chinese (Chongqing Green Culture), Czech (Albatros), English/UK & Commonwealth (Constable&Robinson), Japanese (Tokyo Sogensha)

Material: manuscripts (book 1: 389pp / book 2: 374pp / book 3: 368pp), book 4 manuscript expected October 2013 “You’ll be [Maggie Hope’s] loyal subject, ready to follow her wherever she goes.” ─ O: The Oprah Magazine It’s London in 1940 and Maggie Hope was planning to visit only long enough to sell her grandmother's leaky Victorian house. When England declares war on Germany and Churchill rises to power, she decides to stay, wanting to do her part for her adopted homeland. In the first volume, Maggie becomes the Prime Minister’s secretary, and a murder has happened on her doorstep, the sirens herald ravaging Luftwaffe bombings every night, and spies are everywhere, even at the top levels of British government, and one has ensnared Maggie in a plot that could bring England to its knees. In England's darkest hours, Maggie Hope is a plucky, patriotic, codebreaking secret weapon, but Maggie is a pawn in a game far larger and more deadly than a girl from Boston could ever anticipate. Luckily she has her friends, and she has her wits, and she'll need both to be at the top of their game to survive the war. Thanks to the success of the first novel, Maggie comes back in three other novels following the plot of the first one. She becomes an undercover spy at Windsor Castle to protect the royal family (volume 2), she is then sent to Berlin to infiltrate, gain trust, and ultimately destroy a major of the German war machine (volume 3). In the fourth volume, Maggie has returned from her undercover mission in Berlin with scars not just on her body but on her soul. Instead of going on another Special Operations assignment in war-torn Europe, she returns to one of her old spy training camps in western Scotland, this time as a teacher. But instead of the tedium Maggie is expecting, she's drawn against her will into another web of danger, this time involving a terrifying biological weapon secretly developed and stockpiled by Churchill for the anticipated Nazi invasion. Maggie's failure to solve a series of deadly poisonings could endanger the lives of the entire British civilian population -- but what will be the cost of success? Susan Elia MacNeal lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her husband and child. We have two more Maggie Hope mysteries. Mr Churchill’s Secretary was nominated for the 2013 Edgar Award for Best First Novel, for the 2013 Dilys Award for “the mystery title of the year that booksellers have most enjoyed hand-selling”, and for the 2013 Macavity Award for Best Mystery First Novel.

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THE SCOUT DAVIS SERIES By Maggie Groff Original Publisher: Pan Macmillan First Publication: March 2012 (book1), March 2013 (book 2) Rights Holder: The Plot Lounge Rights Sold: German (Verlag Kiepenheuer & Witsch) Material: manuscripts coming soon

“It’s sexy, funny, rollicking and, best of all, completely refreshing.” ─ Readings Monthly GOOD NEWS, BAD NEWS – Book 2 Intrepid investigative journalist Scout Davis has given herself a holiday, but when Hermione Longfellow floats towards her in the supermarket, wanting to engage her services, she stops to listen. Most people in Byron Bay are aware of the eccentric Anemone sisters. Always dressed in black, they rarely leave their home nestled in the hills – but Scout is sure that the drinking of chicken blood is just idle gossip. When Hermione asks Scout to track down sister Nemony’s AWOL husband, believed to have died at sea thirty years ago, but recently popped up again on the Great Barrier Reef, Scout, checking there is no eye of newt in Hermione’s shopping trolley, jumps at the chance. Another source of intrigue falls close to home when Scout's sister Harper despairs over her husband's odd behaviour. And if that weren’t enough, Scout's journalist boyfriend is finally coming home from Afghanistan. Trouble is, Scout thinks she may be falling in love with irresistible local cop Rafe – who coincidentally is also Toby’s best friend.

MAD MEN, BAD GIRLS AND THE GUERILLA KNITTERS INSTITUTE – Book 1 When a secretive American cult moves to the Gold Coast, freelance journalist Scout Davis’s investigative antennae start quivering. She sets out to expose the cult's lunatic beliefs and bizarre practices, but when she learns the identity of a recent recruit, her quest becomes personal. And dangerous. The cult isn’t the only case on Scout’s agenda. Someone is cutting up girls' underwear at an exclusive school and Scout agrees to look into it. And the sinister secret behind the vandalism is not nice. Not at all. But Scout has her secrets too. In the dead of night she sneaks out with an underground group of yarn bombers to decorate the locality with artworks. The next mission ticks all the right boxes – it's risky, difficult and extremely silly. However, not everyone is amused, and Scout has a sneaking suspicion that the local police sergeant, Rafe Kelly, is hot on her tail. Mad Men, Bad Girls and the Guerilla Knitters Institute is frequently hilarious, always surprising, and delivered with a strong cast of charmingly eccentric characters. Maggie Groff is the bestselling author of two non-fiction books, Mothers Behaving Badly and Hoax Cuisine. The Scout Davis series are her first novels.

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MOONRISE By Cassandra King Original Publisher: Maiden Lane Press First Publication: September 2013 Rights Holder: Marly Rusoff Material: manuscript (400 pp)

“Cassandra King is the Queen of Southern Storytelling.” ─The Post and Courier (Charleston) “Cassandra King writes with clarity and insight about the age-old and contentious subject of friends and lovers, and with love and lyricism about a beautiful slice of southern mountains. Moonrise is a fantastic, not-to-be-missed novel." ─ Anne River Siddons, author of The House Next Door Moonrise is a novel of dark secrets and second chances, New York Times’ bestselling author Cassandra King’s homage to the gothic classic Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. When Helen Honeycutt falls in love with Emmet Justice, a charismatic television journalist who has recently lost his wife in a tragic accident, their sudden marriage creates a rift between her new husband and his oldest friends, who resent Helen’s intrusion into their tightly knit circle. Hoping to mend fences, the newlyweds join the group for a summer at his late wife’s family home and Helen soon falls under the spell of Moonrise, named for its unique but now sadly neglected nocturnal gardens. But the harder Helen tries to fit in, the more obvious it is that she will never measure up to the woman she replaced. Her arrival unexpectedly sets forces in motion, ultimately leading to the uncovering of long-hidden desires and the tragic consequences of betrayal. Someone is clearly determined to drive her away, but who wants her gone, and why? As Emmet grows more remote, Helen reaches out to the others in the group, only to find that she can’t trust anyone. When she stumbles on the secret behind her predecessor’s untimely death, Helen must decide if she can ever trust—or love—again. Set in the cloud-shrouded mountains of western North Carolina, at a summer vacation spot that attracts many of the wealthy from Atlanta and elsewhere, Moonrise combines du Maurier's command of suspense, intrigue, and foreboding with King's light approach to human foible. Cassandra King is the bestselling author of four novels, Making Waves, The Sunday Wife, The Same Sweet Girls, and Queen of Broken Hearts, as well as numerous short stories, essays, and articles. Moonrise, her fifth novel, is set in Highlands, North Carolina. A native of L. A. (Lower Alabama), Cassandra resides in Beaufort, South Carolina, with her husband, Pat Conroy.

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JUST A GIRL, STANDING IN FRONT OF A BOY By Lucy-Anne Holmes Original Publisher: Sphere/ Little Brown First Publication: February 2014 (PB) Rights Holder: Furniss Lawton Rights Sold: German (Blanvalet/Random House), Italian (Fabbri/RCS Libri), Portuguese/Brazil (Novo Conceito)

Option publishers: Czech (Fragment), French (Plon), Indonesian (Gagas Media), Polish (Albatros), Serbian (Laguna), Slovakian (Slovensky Spisovatel), Swedish (Basil), Thai (Pearl Publishing/Ie Chi Culture), Turkish (Artemis Yayinlari), Vietnamese (Ie Chi)

Material: manuscript (416 pp) “Hilarious, sweet and all too relatable. Had me laughing out loud from the first page. Which was embarrassing” ─ Lindsey Kelk “My love story may not be the sort you read about in books or see in films... Love stories have glorious highs and ghastly lows. But when it comes to my own life, I'd have to say, you can keep your fabulous highs and I'll happily steer clear of the terrible lows.” After a rocky start in life, Jenny Taylor, 27, star receptionist at the local doctors surgery, has things all worked out, thanks to a list of ten daily things she must do to keep the blues at bay. But her life is thrown upside down when she meets aspiring musician Joe King. And reliable boyfriend Matt proposes. And then her mum leaves her dad and moves into Jenny's tiny flat, determined to 'bond'. Jenny is about to discover that, It takes a long time to sort out your life. But some things only take a minute... It only takes a minute to write a note to make someone smile for the rest of the day; to say the things you've always wanted to your mum; to down a Jagerbomb and dance like there's no tomorrow with your best friend; to sabotage a funeral and make an old lady truly happy and… to fall in love. Lucy-Anne Holmes is a writer, actress and campaigner living in Sussex. She is the author of three previous novels ─ 50 Ways to Find a Lover, The (Im)perfect Girlfriend and Unlike a Virgin ─ which have been published in ten countries.

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THE BOOK OF SECRETS By Elizabeth Joy Arnold Original Publisher: Bantam Trade Paperback First Publication: June 2013 Rights Holder: Random House US Rights to previous title sold: Portuguese/Brazil (Novo Conceito) Material: manuscript (464pp)

"An exquisite novel...As the story wends on, secrets collapse onto each other...The biggest secret is revealed at the end and won't be spoiled here because The Book of Secrets is one of those reasons some of us live to read." --The Star Ledger "Transcendent . . . a beautiful and haunting ode to the power of words and how they shape our lives."--New York Times bestselling author Sarah Addison Allen "A beautiful and heart-wrenching story."--Carla Buckley, author of Invisible

Chloe and Nate have been best friends ever since Chloe’s eighth birthday. A lonely child after her baby brother died accidentally and her mother checked out, Chloe is drawn into Nate’s boisterous family. But Nate’s rigid, religious father soon comes between their blossoming romance, and the two break up when Chloe heads to college. Twenty years later, Chloe and Nate are married after only a brief estrangement. They run a small, antique bookshop and are very happy, until the day Nate disappears. As Chloe starts to unravel the mystery of her missing husband, her only clues are a series of notes written in a code, based on the classic books that she and Nate used to read as children. But the secrets Nate had been keeping force Chloe to confess a very big secret of her own. Arnold’s previous titles include WHEN WE WERE FRIENDS, PIECES OF MY SISTER’S LIFE, and PROMISE THE MOON.

Elizabeth Arnold is the bestselling author of When We Were Friends (Bantam 2011), Promise the Moon (2008) and Pieces of My Sister’s Life (2007) and lives with her husband in New Jersey.

UPMARKET Women’s Fiction

CARTWHEEL By Jennifer duBois Original Publisher: Random House First Publication: September 2013 Rights Holder: Random House US Rights sold: Dutch (Artemis), English/UK & ANZ (Scribe), German (Aufbau), Italian (Mondadori), Portuguese/Brazil (Rocco Editore), Serbian (Vulkans) Option Publisher: France (Robert Laffont) Material: translatable manuscript (384 pp) “Jennifer duBois, a writer whose fierce intelligence is matched only by her deep humanity, hits us with a marvelous second novel that intertwines a gripping tale of murder abroad with an intimate story of family heartbreak. Every sentence crackles with wit and vision. Every page casts a spell.” —Maggie Shipstead, New York Times bestselling author of Seating Arrangements An American foreign exchange student arrested for murder; a father navigating the labyrinths of an unfamiliar legal system while trying to hold his family together; the mysterious young man who claims to have slept through the killing; and a prosecutor in search of justice and his estranged wife. When Lily Hayes arrives in Buenos Aires for her semester abroad, she is enchanted by everything she encounters: the colors, the street food, the handsome, elusive guy next-door. Her studious roommate Katy is a bit of a bore, but Lily didn't come to Argentina to hang out with another American anyway. Five weeks later, Katy is found brutally murdered in their shared home, and Lily is the prime suspect. Who is Lily Hayes? Amoral, hypersexual, unstable--a killer? Or simply young, a little self-centered, trapped in a legal system she was too naïve to take seriously? In the harrowing days that follow, these two versions of the 21year old struggle for prominence in the media, in the evidence, and even in the corners of her supporters' minds. As the case takes shape - a love triangle, DNA, a flimsy alibi - her family, lover, and prosecutor (and readers themselves) must decide what kind of person they believe Lily Hayes to be. Cartwheel is a novel of riveting psychological suspense and rare emotional insight that will haunt you long after the last page. It also raises profound moral questions about how we decide what to believe about others, and ourselves. Jennifer duBois's A Partial History of Lost Causes (Robert Laffont, 2014), was one of the most acclaimed debuts of 2012. It was a finalist for the Pen/Hemingway Prize for Debut Fiction and the National Book Foundation named her one of its 5 Under 35 Authors. O, The Oprah Magazine chose it as one of the ten best books of the year. A graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, duBois was a Stegner Fellow at Stanford, where she now teaches.

UPMARKET Women’s Fiction

UNDER THE WIDE AND STARRY SKY By Nancy Horan Original Publisher: Ballantine First Publication: January 2014 Rights Holder: Random House US Rights sold: English/UK (Hodder), Italian (Einaudi) Rights to previous work sold: Bulgarian (Era), Chinese/Complex (Azoth Books), Chinese/Simplified (Shang Shu Culture Media), Dutch (Mouria), English/UK & Commonwealth (Hodder), French (Buchet Chastel), German (Suhrkamp/Insel), Greek (Gema), Hebrew (Modan), Italian (Einaudi), Polish (Bertelsmann), Portuguese/Brazil (Rocco), Portuguese/Portugal (Editorial Difel), Spanish (Santillana), Swedish (Bonniers), Turkish (Artemis),

Material: manuscript (570pp) “Horan’s spectacular second novel has been worth the wait… An exhilarating epic about a free-spirited couple who traveled the world yet found home only in one another.” ─ Booklist, starred review From the bestselling author of Loving Frank, Nancy Horan chronicles the unconventional love affair between Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson and his wild-tempered American wife, Fanny Van de Grift Osbourne. When we first encounter Fanny Van de Grift Osbourne, she is a 35-year-old married woman who is traveling with her three children and nanny. Having left her unfaithful husband, she is sailing to Belgium to study art. Not long after her arrival, however, tragedy strikes, and Fanny and her children repair to a quiet artists' colony in France where she can recuperate. While there, she meets a lively young Scot who is ten years her junior. Robert Louis Stevenson falls instantly in love with "la belle Americaine," as the locals call Fanny. A woman who has already lived an adventurous life, she is earthy, independent, opinionated, fiercely loyal to those she loves and equally pugnacious to those who cross her. Fanny is not so quickly impressed with the skinny young lawyer who longs to devote his life to writing. In time, though, she succumbs to Stevenson's charms and begins an affair with him. As Under the Wide and Starry Sky pursue an uncharted course together, they experience harrowing struggles, intense passion and much joy as Louis' novels and stories bring him fame. At the peak of his success, however, Stevenson discovers himself in a predicament that parallels the darkest moments undergone by one of his most famous creations. Nancy Horan is a writer and journalist whose work has appeared in numerous publications. Her first novel, Loving Frank, reached #5 on the New York Times list.

UPMARKET Women’s Fiction

LUCKY US By Amy Bloom Publisher: Random House First Publication: August 2014 Rights Holder: Random House US Rights Sold: Dutch (Nijgh & van Ditmar), English/UK & ANZ (Granta), German (Hoffmann & Campe) Rights to previous works sold: Chinese/simplified (Shaanxi Normal University Press), Dutch (Uitgeverij Nieuw Amsterdam), English/UK & Commonwealth (Granta Publications), French (Editions Belfond), German (Hoffmann & Campe), Hebrew (Matar-Triwaks), Hungarian (Ulpuis-haz), Italian (Neri Pozza Editore/ Einaudi/Stile Libero), Japanese (Schinchosha), Norwegian (Aschehoug), Polish (Muza S.A.), Portuguese/Brazil (Editora Novo Conceito/ Editora Nova Fronteira), Portuguese/Portugal (Edicoes ASA II S.A.), Romanian (Leda Editserv), Spanish (Ediciones Destino), Turkish (Pegasus Yayincilik)

Material: manuscript (218 pp) "Amy Bloom gets more meaning in to individual sentences than most authors manage in whole books." ─ The New Yorker “Lucky Us is a remarkable accomplishment. One waits a long time for a novel of this scope and dimension, replete with surgically-drawn characters, a mix of comedy and tragedy that borders on the miraculous, and sentences that should be in a sentence museum. Amy Bloom is a treasure.” — Michael Cunningham When Eva's mother abandons her on her half-sister Iris's front porch, the girls don't seem to have much in common ─ except, they soon discover, a father. Thrown together with no mothers to care for them and a father who could not be considered a parent, Eva and Iris become one another's family. Iris wants to be a movie star; Eva is her sidekick. From scandal in Hollywood to the carriage house of a wealthy Long Island family, the sisters look out for each other through good and bad, until unexpected events send Iris to London, leaving Eva with a responsibility she could never have imagined. Full of colorful characters and irresistible settings ─ a lavish, sensual Hollywood party; an unforgettable cross-country road trip; a Brooklyn beauty parlor where Eva reads Tarot cards, high and low life in Great Neck, Long Island ─ Lucky Us is a stunningly imagined novel about the longing to connect with others over self, the quest for a mother, and the meaning of family, in 1930s-50s America. Amy Bloom’s last novel, Away, was a 2007 national bestseller which grossed well over 300,000 copies in hardcover and paperback. Most recently, she is the author of Where the God of Love Hangs Out, a critically acclaimed collection of stories, which Random House published in January 2010. She is also the author of two collections of prize-winning stories: Come To Me and A Blind Man Can See How Much I Love You.

UPMARKET Women’s Fiction

THE WIVES OF LOS ALAMOS By TaraShea Nesbit Original Publisher: Bloomsbury US First Publication: February 2014 Rights Holder: Barer Literary Rights sold: English/UK (Bloomsbury); German (Dumont); Italian (Ponte alle Grazie) Material: manuscript (178 pp) “[A] fascinating and artful debut […] With chilling implications and charged, sure-footed prose, this is a novel—and writer—of consequence.” —Paula McLain, author of The Paris Wife "Hypnotic and filled with elegaic details; Nesbit offers fascinating and disturbing insight into the secret life of the Los Alamos families." —Madeline Miller, author of The Song of Achilles Their average age was twenty-five. They came from Berkeley, Cambridge, Paris, London, Chicago—and arrived in New Mexico ready for adventure, or at least resigned to it. But hope quickly turned to hardship as they were forced to adapt to a rugged military town where everything was a secret, including what their husbands were doing at the lab. They lived in barely finished houses with a P.O. Box for an address in a town wreathed with barbed wire, all for the benefit of a project that didn’t exist as far as the public knew. Though they were strangers, they joined together- adapting to a landscape as fierce as it was absorbing, full of the banalities of everyday life and the drama of scientific discovery. And while the bomb was being invented, babies were born, friendships were forged, children grew up, and Los Alamos gradually transformed from an abandoned school on a hill into a real community. One that was strained by the words they couldn’t say out loud, the letters they couldn’t send home, the freedom they didn’t have. But the end of the war would bring even bigger challenges to the people of Los Alamos, as the scientists and their families struggled with the burden of their contribution to the most destructive force in the history of mankind. The Wives of Los Alamos is a window into one of the strangest and most monumental research projects in modern history, and a testament to a remarkable group of women who carved out a life for themselves, in spite of the chaos of the war and the shroud of intense secrecy. TaraShea Nesbit's prose, poetry, and criticism have been featured in The Iowa Review, Quarterly West, Hayden's Ferry Review and other literary journals. She teaches creative writing and literature courses at the University of Denver and the University of Washington in Tacoma, facilitates writing groups at The Gathering Place- a day shelter for women, children, and transgender individuals experiencing poverty and homelessness, and is the nonfiction editor for Better: Culture & Lit.

UPMARKET Women’s Fiction

THE EFFECT OF HER By Gerry Stembridge Original Publisher: Old Street Press First Publication: May 2013 Rights Holder: Fletcher & Company Material: manuscript (419 pp)

“Extraordinarily vivid, knowing and satisfyingly irreverent.” ─ John Banville

** A masterful novel in the spirit of Colm Toibin and William Trevor ** Mags Perry has fled a loveless marriage and returned from England where she picks up what work she can find as a freelance journalist and discovers that, while her impending divorce might have made her a pariah in traditional Irish society, the burgeoning Women’s Movement offers her an opportunity to join in the fight for a better, fairer republic ─ and if possible, find a different kind of love along the way. Francis Strong leaves his provincial, working-class home for University bringing with him an almost mythical notion of Dublin. It's the 70's, he's a literature student, and freedom beckons ─ but does he know what kind of freedom he is looking for? And is it to be found in the capital? Seemingly remote from such trivial human affairs is CJ, the one-time cabinet minister who is now in the political wilderness after getting mixed up in an arms scandal and pursuing an affair with the society wife of a high court judge. Yet, as he ruthlessly seeks a return to power, his discussions could impact ─ for better or worse ─ the lives of everyone in Ireland. The narrative is incredibly rich, funny and character-led; the style is decidedly un-showy and transporting. Stembridge’s ability to capture the emergence of feminism into Irish life is mesmerizing and the slow and wobbly coming of age of the young characters during their campus years is affectingly comic and beautifully rendered. Gerry Stembridge is a writer for film and television who lives in Ireland. He is the author of three earlier novels: Unspoken (Old Street Press), Counting Down and According to Luke (both Penguin Ireland). His film credits include the screenplay for Ordinary Decent Criminal (starring Kevin Spacey, Colin Farrell and Linda Fiorentino) and he co-wrote Nora (starring Ewan McGregor and Susan Lynch). His directing credits include About Adam (starring Kate Hudson and Stuart Townsend), Guilttrip, Blackday at Black Rock.

UPMARKET Women’s Fiction

COMING HOME By Sue Gee Original Publisher: Headline Review First Publication: August 2013 Rights Holder: MBA Agency Rights Sold: Italian (Newton Compton Editore) Rights to previous title sold: France (Charleston) Material: manuscript (475 pp) “A storyteller utterly at ease with her craft” ─ Times Literary Supplement “Gee writes with startling freshness.” ─ The Times “Profound and lyrical, it's full of light and darkness and the most marvellous description.” ─ The Observer A life-long passion for a country, for memories and for each other bind Will and his wife Flo Sutherland. They fell in love in Bombay late in WW2, and she is pregnant when they set sail to return to England in 1949. All Will wants is to care for his young family but he feels like a man out of place and time. Working on a remote dairy farm in Devon proves too much hard work, and a later desk job in London is a long, tedious commute and leaves Flo lonely and isolated in their new suburban home. Beatrice and Freddie provide the warm, beating heart of the family – their young lives full of the joy of animals, music and games and enchantment with their parents’ stories of India and the grandparents they never really knew. But as the children grow up, their parents’ world seems old fashioned and their memories of British colonial India mean nothing to a boy who longs for a friend to share his passion for photography, or to a teenage girl whose world is shaped by pop music. Orange long-listed, Good Housekeeping shortlisted, RNA winner, this is Sue Gee’s first novel since her bestselling Reading in Bed. Coming Home’s seemingly intimate theme of family life reflects the huge social and economic changes of mid-20th century England and the novel works on several different levels but is always, as with all Sue Gee’s work, profoundly humane and deeply felt. Praise for Sue Gee’s previous novels “A memorable achievement.” ─ Daily Express “A complex story, beautifully told.” ─ Mail on Sunday “As seductively readable as its title suggests... draws the reader in with its skilful portrayal of real-life situations.” ─ The Times “A delightful and ─ in the best sense ─ serious novel.” ─ Penelope Fitzgerald 40

UPMARKET Women’s Fiction

SWEETHEART DEALS By Beth Raymer Original Publisher: Random House First Publication: March 2015 Rights Holder: Random House US Rights to previous work sold: French (J’ai lu), Greek (Klidarithmos), Hungarian (Athenaeum), Japanese (Shogakukan), Polish (Znak), English/UK & Commonwealth (Yellow Jersey/Random House UK)

Material: manuscript expected March 2014 Beth Raymer’s follow-up to 2010’s Lay The Favorite, published in French by J’ai Lu, is an autobiographically-based, comic début novel about an adopted daughter navigating an unconventional childhood, adopted family dynamics, sexual awakening, and the eventual disintegration of her family. Raymer has an MFA from Columbia University and lives in New York City. In 2007, she was awarded a Fulbright scholarship. Her memoir Lay The Favorite (Spiegel & Grau, June 2010), was released in Fall 2012 as a major motion picture from Random House Films in conjunction with Focus Features, starring Bruce Willis, Vince Vaughn, Rebecca Hall, and Catherine Zeta-Jones, with Stephen Frears (The Queen) directing.

Praise on Lay the Favorite “Lay the Favorite reads more like a novel than a memoir. The rich characters are drawn in depth, yet simply and honestly.”— Wall Street Journal “Strange as hell, wildly affectionate and very, very funny. It is a world filled with scoundrels, thieves, and gamblers. It is a world we all recognize, where everyone is looking to somehow come out on top while doing what they love. The book is wise and has a relish for life that is a treat.” – Stephen Frears “Seduced by her stories, we long for this strange, sleazy and alluring landscape, even as the stakes get higher and Raymer's search for ‘the best of it’ turns into a worst-case scenario. With a film adaptation in the works, it's a safe bet that Raymer's memoir will find a wide audience. In fact, her engaging voice makes her a shoe-in for a sequel. I'm setting the odds at 3 to 1.”— Los Angeles Times

UPMARKET Women’s Fiction

RIDLEY ROAD By Jo Bloom Original Publisher: On submission now First Publication: TBA Rights Holder: Furniss Lawton Material: manuscript (353 pp)

Vivien Epstein is a 22-year-old Jewish hairdresser from Manchester. Her dad, a history teacher and previously a prominent member of the post war anti-fascist movement ─ the 43 Group ─ has recently died, leaving Vivien an orphan. Vivien leaves Manchester for London in the hope of finding Jack Fox ─ a man she had a brief, but intense, love affair with some months previously when he came to Manchester to research a book and interview her dad about the 43 Group. All Vivien has to go on is one letter Jack sent to her dad following his return to London, with the address of a boarding house scribbled on the back. When she fails to find him there it seems her hopes are dashed. Vivien gets a job in Oscar’s, a hairdressing salon in Soho, settles into a routine with motherly landlady Nettie, and attempts to throw herself into her new life in London ─ all the while pining for Jack. That is until she learns about the resurgence of antifascism amongst the Jewish community from Barb, the owner of Oscar’s, and her husband Alan. Anti-fascist protesters are taking to the streets in East London, on and around Ridley Road, to protest against Oswald Moseley’s British Union of Fascists and Colin Jordan’s newly established, Nationalist Socialist Movement. Vivien feels sure that Jack is the sort of man who would become involved in the anti-fascist movement and thinks she may have a good chance of finding him amongst protesters. Alan takes her to a rally in Trafalgar Square and amidst the crowds Vivien finally spots Jack. Flushed with renewed hope she calls his name furiously ─ at long last they lock eyes. And here their story begins again. Ridley Road is a beautifully written love story set against the backdrop of the revival of fascism in the early sixties and the rise of the 62 Group, an anti-fascist movement determined to defend the Jewish community, and other minorities, and fight fascism on the streets of London. It’s a story that has many parallels with our times, parallels which would resonate with contemporary readers and make this a great reading group choice– particularly in light of the recent resurgence of activism and campaigning (driven by social media), as well as several other strong themes you will discover through reading. It will appeal to fans of Colm Toibin’s Brooklyn, as well as of Maggie O’Farrell. Jo Bloom has had a varied career – she was a book reviewer for Time Out for several years, as well as previously working in the media in both Prague and New York. She currently works as a freelancer in arts marketing and press roles, as well as in the e-learning sector. She already has two wonderful ideas for further novels. Jo is in her early 40s and lives in Brighton with her husband and young son.

UPMARKET Women’s Fiction

THE END OF ALWAYS By Randi Davenport Original Publisher: Grand Central First Publication: May 2014 Rights Holder: Barer Literary Material: manuscript (320 pp) It is 1907 and 17-year-old Marie Reehs is determined not to follow in the footsteps of her mother—that is, she will not marry a violent man, and will not die at the hands of a violent man. But fate may have other plans for her. Marie’s father, a disappointed immigrant from an island off the northern coast of Germany, has become bitter about his prospects in America. Her mother is dead, fatally injured in a mysterious accident to which Marie’s father was the only witness, and her older sister wants nothing more than to maintain the family as it was—a rigid life of rules and brutal punishments. Day after day, in a job her father has arranged for her and under the watchful gaze of a man who wants her for his own, Marie toils in a commercial laundry. Haunted by the ghost of her mother and the fairy tales she was raised on, Marie chafes under the prescriptions and conventions that constrain the young women of her time. At first, it looks like Marie’s passionate love affair with a charismatic young man will be her path towards freedom—but it soon leads her to a place where dreams are paid for in blood. Set in the lush woods and small towns of turn-of-the-century Wisconsin, against a backdrop of political unrest and economic collapse, this is a powerful and ultimately uplifting story of a young woman’s triumphant battle to forge her own future, to rise above a vicious family legacy, and to take control of her own life. Randi Davenport is the author of the memoir The Boy Who Loved Tornadoes: A Mother’s Story (Algonquin, 2010), a winner of the Great Lakes Colleges Association Prize for Creative Non-fiction and a finalist for a Books for a Better Life award. Her short fiction and essays have appeared in publications including The Huffington Post, The Washington Post, The Ontario Review and the Alaska Quarterly Review, among others. She is currently the Executive Director of the James M. Johnston Center for Undergraduate Excellence at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. This is her debut novel. Praise for The Boy Who Loved Tornados "Randi Davenport's The Boy Who Loved Tornadoes (Algonquin) is about her son Chase's psychotic breakdown at age 15. One doctor diagnosed him as " 'Chase NOS'--Chase Not Otherwise Specified. 'He's a population of one,' " as is this unforgettable memoir of a shattered family, a mother's abiding love, and the frightening permutations of the human mind."--Lisa Shea, Elle Magazine, April 2010 "A gripping memoir of motherly love and absolute devotion." --Kirkus Reviews 43

UPMARKET Women’s Fiction

MANNEQUIN GIRL By Ellen Litman Original Publisher: WW Norton First Publication: March 2014 Rights Holder: McCormick & Williams Material: manuscript coming soon “[An] elegantly constructed web of stories about RussianJewish immigrants... Warm, true and original.” ─ New York Times book review, on The Last Chicken in America “Straightforward in structure yet intricate psychologically, Litman's smart stories take measure of the confounding divides between cultures and generations, men and women.” ─ Booklist, on The Last Chicken in America A moving coming-of-age story in the tradition of A Separate Peace, Prep and Skippy Dies. Set in the 1980s in the Soviet Union, Mannequin Girl is about Kat Knopman, a headstrong girl who at age seven is diagnosed with rapidly progressing scoliosis. The daughter of Jewish intellectuals, Kat imagined herself following in their bohemian footsteps. Instead, she is sent to a special boarding school for children with spinal deformities. Confined to a brace, surrounded by unsympathetic peers, Kat embarks on a quest to prove that she can be as exceptional as her parents – a beauty, a wit, and a free spirit – in spite of her physical limitations, her Jewishness, and her sneaking suspicion that her parents aren’t so perfect after all. Ellen Litman’s first book, The Last Chicken in America, was finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. A native of Moscow, she teaches writing at the University of Connecticut. Praise for The Last Chicken in America “Litman deploys a style that's a perfect mix of sophistication and bewilderment, as her often highly educated characters cope with various forms of underemployment, with American buoyancy and with their own sometimes suffocating subculture… A very promising writer.” ─ Publishers Weekly “Litman adroitly depicts the stress, underemployment, isolation, and sense of loss commonly suffered by new immigrants. Though English is her second language, Litman’s writing style is graceful and clever… A promising new writer.” ─ Bookmarks Magazine “A beautiful, complex portrait of an immigrant community that, through its heart, virtuosity, humor, and unrelenting precision of vision, ends up being about America itself—about the complicated blessings that freedom, and the possibility of affluence, bring.” ─ George Saunders

SUSPENSE Women’s Fiction

RUIN FALLS By Jenny Milchman Original Publisher: Ballantine First Publication: May 2014 Rights Holder: Random House US Rights to previous works sold: German (Lübbe), Italian (Sperling), Norwegian (Pantagruel) Material Available: Manuscript (397 pages) In a suspenseful follow-up to her critically acclaimed Cover of Snow, Jenny Milchman ratchets up the tension with this edge-of-your-seat story of a mother determined to find her missing children. Liz Daniels has every reason to be happy about setting off on a rare family vacation, leaving their remote home in the Adirondack Mountains behind for a while. Instead, she feels uneasy. Her children, eight-year-old Reid and six-year-old Ally, have only met their paternal grandparents a handful of times. But Liz’s husband, Paul, has decided that, despite a strained relationship with his mother and father, they should visit the farm in western New York where he spent his childhood. On their way to the farm, the family stops at a hotel for the night. In the morning, when Liz checks on her sleeping children, all of her anxiety from the day before comes roaring back to life: Ally and Reid are nowhere to be found. Blind panic slides into ice-cold terror as the hours tick by without anyone finding a trace of her kids. Soon, Paul and Liz are being interviewed by police, an Amber Alert is issued, and detectives are called in. Frantic worry and helplessness threaten to overtake Liz’s mind—but in a sudden, gutwrenching instant she realizes that it was no stranger who slipped into the hotel room that night. Someone she trusted completely has betrayed her. Liz knows that Ally and Reid are safe, but she will stop at nothing to find them and get them back. Jenny Milchman holds a master’s degree in psychology from the New School, and has worked in community mental health for 13 years. Cover of Snow, garnered universally strong praise, from the New York Times, to bestselling author Lee Child, to a starred Booklist review and has nearly 20,000 in print after 3 printings.

Praise for Cover of Snow “Absorbing from start to finish: Jenny Milchman writes a deeply felt and suspenseful story of a woman whose life is upended by a death and a dark secret. While perceptively reflecting on community and our connections to one another, Cover of Snow is also an insightful look at the intimacies and secrets of marriage.” ─ Nancy Pickard, bestselling author of The Scent of Rain and Lightning

SUSPENSE Women’s Fiction

CURRAWONG MANOR By Josephine Pennicott Original Publisher: Pan Macmillan First Publication: TBA Rights Holder: The Plot Lounge Rights Sold: German (Ullstein) Material: manuscript coming soon A story of ghosts, murder, lies, art, scandal and love, that deftly switches between the present and the war-torn 1940s. In the 1940s, Currawong Manor (or the Ruins as it is known locally) becomes the focus of intense media scrutiny when a horrific crime shatters the small upper-mountains village: Arthur Partridge, an artist who lives in the manor, claims to have killed his own daughter, Shalimar. But who is really guilty? It’s said in Mount Bellwood that ‘The Ruins’ ruins lives, and that when the currawongs gather on the roof of the manor it heralds either a birth... or a death. In the present day, a group of people meet with a desperate need to unearth the truth about Arthur Partridge. Elizabeth Thorrington, a young photographer and Arthur’s granddaughter, is trying to conceive and is having serious marital problems; she takes up residency at Currawong Manor. Delving into Currawong Manor’s past, Elizabeth uncovers a more shocking and sinister truth than she could have imagined – and puts herself at risk. As she comes closer to the secret behind The Ruins, the currawongs begin to gather again, but what does their arrival herald?

POET’S COTTAGE By Josephine Pennicott Original Publisher: Pan Macmillan First Publication: April 2012 Rights Holder: The Plot Lounge Rights Sold: German (Ullstein), Dutch (Meulenhoff) Material Available: Manuscript (384 pp) Set in 1930s and the present day, Poet’s Cottage is a compelling, haunting mystery of families, bohemian life, fairy-tales, truth, creativity, lies, memory ─ and murder. When Sadie Jeffreys inherits Poets Cottage in the Tasmanian sea-fishing village of Pencubitt, she is eager to research her family history and discover all she can about her grandmother, Pearl Tatlow, a bohemian children's writer of the 1930s. The problem is, nothing about Pearl is simple: not her life and certainly not her unexplained death in the dark, damp cellar of her own picturesque house. As Sadie works to uncover the truth through Pearl's biography, much of what Sadie thought she knew about her grandmother is called into doubt, and strange events begin to occur in the cottage. Sadie must trust no-one as the terrible secret in the cellar at Poets Cottage threads its way from the past into present day, revealing a truth more shocking than the all the decades-long rumours. Josephine Pennicott is an award-winning crime writer. Her story Birthing the Demons won the 2001 Scarlet Stiletto, and she has won the Kerry Greenwood Domestic Malice Prize twice. Josephine’s first three novels were dark fantasy. The first one was named as one of 2001’s best debut novels in The Year’s Best Fantasy & Horror. Poet’s Cottage is her first novel in the genre of women’s commercial fiction.

SUSPENSE Women’s Fiction

ROOM FOR LOST SOULS By Lezanne Clannachan Original Publisher: Orion First Publication: April 2014 Rights Holder: Furniss Lawton Material: manuscript coming soon Pia has struggled with agoraphobia for several years. Living in an architecturally-protected house in North London, she rents out rooms to lodgers – but only to women. When one of her lodgers moves on, she has a room to fill and for once she ignores her own rule. Mark’s case is compelling – he’s handsome, charming, and he needs a break. Surely he’s no threat to her? Having granted him the room, Pia begins to hear strange noises at night and then one of her other tenants disappears. It seems the one person she broke her rule for might tear her safety and security apart…

JELLYBIRD By Lezanne Clannachan Original Publisher: Orion First Publication: March 2013 Rights Holder: Furniss Lawton Material Available: Manuscript (424 pp) “This is a nail-biting debut full of twists and betrayal ─ an author to look for again.” ─ Candis Magazine “A tremendous debut with real psychological texture. The plotting is subtle, the balance between past and present finely judged, the prose fresh and precise.” ─ Nigel Farndale, bestselling author of The Blasphemer Jessica should have everything to make her happy: a loving husband, a growing reputation as a jewellery designer, hope for a family of her own in the future. Then she meets Libby ─ flattering, attentive ─ and believes she has found the friendship she missed out on as a child. Until Jessica catches her husband and Libby alone, heads together in whispered collusion. With her life unravelling, Jessica flees home to the seaside town where she grew up. The discovery of an old postcard among her childhood belongings sends Jessica in search of her first love, Thomas, 'the ghost boy' who disappeared one night seventeen years ago. The last time Jessica saw Thomas he was covered in blood and begging her to hide him. Now to find him, Jessica must confront the secrets that link her to Libby, the missing boy and a brutal murder. Lezanne Clannachan was born in Denmark and moved to England to complete her education. She has also lived in Singapore, Mozambique and Australia. Her first novel, Jellybird, will be published by Orion in 2013 and she is currently working on a second, A room for Lost Souls, which will be published in Spring 2014. Lezanne also writes short stories. She divides her time between West Sussex and Switzerland.

SUSPENSE Women’s Fiction

HUSH LITTLE BABY By Suzanne Redfearn Original Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (at auction) First Publication: October 2014 Rights Holder: The Nicholas Ellison Agency Rights Sold: Czech (Euromedia Group), Hungarian (Ucila), Slovakian (Ikar), Slovenian (XXI) Material: First ms (368pp)

"This snappily paced, cinematic novel about the dysfunctional modern American family... hurtle[s] along with great urgency to a rousing climax. A smart, suspenseful debut." —Publisher's Weekly "Using beautifully nuanced prose and taut pacing, Redfearn skillfully weaves a gripping tale about the dark side of suburbia. Where appearances rule, perception is everything, and the lines between good and evil are often blurred. This is top-notch storytelling!" --Alyson Noël, #1 NYT bestselling author of The Immortals series Rarely does a book come along that keeps the reader glued to the page with a furious pace, gripped in the conflict between love, family and independence. Redfearn has crafted a deeply sensual and compelling family drama that deftly explores how desperation drives the darker impulses of human nature, even within the hearts of those who appear to have it all. A mother desperately fights to rescue her children from her abusive husband in this powerful debut novel. Jillian Kane has led a charmed life. She is a successful architect who has made a beautiful suburban home—and life—for her family. She’s married to a police officer; someone who lives with violence and danger every day. Both Jillian and Gordon strive to keep their eightyear-old son Drew and four year-old daughter Addie protected from the harsh realities of their father’s job and the outside world. But inside their family, a more direct, immediate danger lurks. Jillian has kept her husband’s physical and mental abuse secret in order to keep her family together. But when Gordon attempts to separate her from her children, Jillian no longer has anything to lose. Willing to take desperate measures to protect them, she soon realizes that it will take brains to beat brawn in a face-off that she has been avoiding for years. Hush Little Baby deftly explores how desperation drives the darker impulses of human nature, even within the hearts of those who appear to have it all. Suzanne Redfearn lives in Laguna Beach, California.

HISTORICAL Women’s Fiction

UNDER THE JEWELLED SKY By Alison McQueen Original Publisher: Orion Books First Publication: May 2013 Rights Holder: Fletcher & Company Material: manuscript (400 pp)

“McQueen effortlessly captures India at a crucial turning point in its history – the country is described so vividly that it becomes a character in itself… with a heartbreaking ending, this is truly a captivating tale.” – The Lady ** A story of love, loss of innocence, and the aftermath of a terrible decision no one knew how to avoid. ** ** By the author of The Secret Children ** London 1957. In a bid to erase her past and build the family she yearns for, Sophie Schofield accepts a wedding proposal from ambitious British diplomat, Lucien Grainger. When he is posted to New Delhi, into the glittering circle of ex-pat high society, old wounds begin to break open as she is confronted with the memory of her first, forbidden love and its devastating consequences. The suffocating conformity of diplomatic life soon closes in on her. This is not the India she fell in love with ten years before when her father was a maharaja’s physician, the India of tigers and scorpions and palaces afloat on shimmering lakes; the India that ripped out her heart as Partition tore the country in two, separating her from her one true love. The past haunts her still, the guilt of her actions, the destruction it wreaked upon her fragile parents, and the boy with the tourmaline eyes. Sophie had never meant to come back, yet the moment she stepped onto India’s burning soil as a newlywed wife, she realised her return was inevitable. And so begins the unravelling of an ill-fated marriage, setting in motion a devastating chain of events that will bring her face to face with a past she tried so desperately to forget, and a future she must fight for. Alison McQueen is a pseudonym for Alison Penton Harper, a writer from the UK who won the Richard & Judy first novel competition for Housewife in Love and has a series of bestselling romantic comedies published by Macmillan UK under the name of Alison Penton Harper. Alison McQueen had already successfully depicted India in her previous novel, based on her own family history, The Secret Children.

HISTORICAL Women’s Fiction

THE RUSSIAN TAPESTRY By Banafsheh Serov Original Publisher: Hachette Australia First Publication: August 2013 Rights Holder: Hachette Australia Material: manuscript (398pp)

“I found the plot, the settling and the historical aspects of the story very engrossing. I could picture the time and the place and I enjoyed reading about World War I from the perspective of the Russians… A great debut.” ─ Australian Book Shelf (rated 4/5) A brilliantly woven saga of turmoil and love based on the true story of an unlikely romance in the time of the Russian revolution. From St Petersburg, 1913, to Estonia, 1919, and beyond, The Russian Tapestry spans wars, revolution and friendships that will grow as strong as the turmoil around them in this captivating tale of struggle, loyalty and love, inspired by a true story. Marie Kulbas, the daughter of a wealthy merchant, is excited about her new life in the vibrant city of St Petersburg. But as World War I escalates she must farewell those dearest to her when her brother and her fianc leave for the German Front. Colonel Alexei Serov comes from a long line of professional soldiers. Leading his men is his birthright and his duty; his allegiance to Russia surpasses everything, including his obligations to his wife and family. His role is clear, until he meets Marie and suddenly emotions rise in him that he has never felt before. As their world starts to crumble, Marie and Alexei discover a love that they will cling to in their search for a path to safety It follows the paths of a cast of characters so fully drawn they could have been taken from the pages of history: Maria’s brother and the revolutionary he befriends; a peasant woman and the young boy she protects; and Alexie’s wife and daughters… Carefully researched and beautifully written, this book will appeal to readers of Kate Furnivall. Banafsheh Serov is the author of Under a Starless Sky, the true story of her family’s escape from Iran. She lives in Sydney, Australia, with her husband and sons, and owns and manages a small chain of bookshops. For more information about Banafsheh visit her website/blog (http://banafshehserov.com/) (http://bserov.blogspot.com.au/).

HISTORICAL Women’s Fiction

DARK AEMILIA By Sally O'Reilly Original Publisher: Myriad Editions First Publication: March 2014 Rights Holder: Adrian Weston Rights sold: English/US (Picador) Material: Manuscript (335pp) “For I have sworn thee fair, and thought thee bright Who art as black as hell, as dark as night.” ─ William Shakespeare, Sonnet 147 “Dark Aemilia makes one gasp with pleasure and nostalgia for a world one never knew. Profoundly romantic and erotic yet intelligent – glittery in its descriptions yet wholly believable. How glad one is to live now but how one envies the past!” ─ Fay Weldon In the boldest imagining of the era since Shakespeare in Love and Elizabeth, this spellbinding novel of witchcraft, poetry and passion, brings to life Aemilia Lanyer, the ‘Dark Lady’ of Shakespeare’s Sonnets — the playwright’s muse and his one true love. The daughter of a Venetian musician but orphaned as a young girl, Aemilia Bassano grows up in the court of Elizabeth I, becoming the Queen’s favourite. She absorbs a love of poetry and learning, maturing into a striking young woman with a sharp mind and a quick tongue. Now brilliant, beautiful and highly educated, Aemilia is mistress of Lord Hunsdon, the Lord Chamberlain and Queen’s cousin. But her position is precarious; when she falls in love with court playwright William Shakespeare, her fortunes change irrevocably. A decade later, the Queen is dead, and Aemilia Bassano is now Aemilia Lanyer, fallen from favour and married to a fool. Like the rest of London, she fears the plague. And when her son Henry becomes ill, Aemilia will do anything to save him, even making a pact with the Devil himself. A must-read for fans of Tracy Chevalier (Girl With a Pearl Earring) and Sarah Dunant (The Birth of Venus), Sally O’Reilly’s richly atmospheric novel compellingly re-imagines the struggles for power, recognition and survival in the brutal world of Elizabethan London. She conjures the art of England’s first professional female poet, giving us a character for the ages – a woman who is ambitious and intelligent, true to herself and true to her heart. Sally O'Reilly is a novelist, short story writer and former journalist who has taught creative writing. She is the author of How to be a Writer (Piatkus) and two novels: The Best Possible Taste and You Spin Me Round (both Penguin Books). Dark Aemilia is her first historical novel and her second, Aphra X will be published in 2016.

HISTORICAL Women’s Fiction

ANGELS MAKE THEIR HOPE HERE By Breena Clarke Original Publisher: Little Brown First Publication: April 2014 Rights Holder: Cynthia Cannell Literary Agency Material: manuscript (369 pp)

“Calling all book clubs! Clarke scores again…an evocative, historically rich book…” — Time Magazine, on River, Cross My Heart ** A gripping story of survival and adventure impeccably framed in history. ** Dossie Bird, a young girl born into bondage on an island off the coast of Maryland, journeys north to freedom via steamer, canal barge, and on foot. She is rescued by an enigmatic, captivating mountain man who takes her to the remote fictional town of Russell’s Knob in New Jersey, a community based on actual nineteenth-century Mid-Atlantic maroon societies, where blacks, whites, and reds intermarried and lived in relative harmony for generations. Dossie’s new home is a defiant refuge for those who would be free and stay that way, where she finds momentous connection but must also endure harrowing violence. Soon, Dossie is forced to emancipate herself from her charismatic husband and leave the highlands for the streets of New York City, where she is swept up in the city’s dangerous excitement as the Civil War looms. Filled with ripe, resonating characters, this meticulously researched and deeply felt novel reminds the reader that all people, regardless of race or gender, are equally capable of truly heroic and truly inglorious acts to insure their survival. This panoramic chronicle of freedom and its price, and of true-to-life characters with “the moxie to make a way from no way,” will resonate with readers from the first word to the last. With the same storytelling brio that distinguished the acclaimed novels River, Cross My Heart and Stand The Storm, Breena Clarke weaves the richly dramatic story of one woman’s triumph in the crucible of history. Breena Clarke, a native of Washington, D.C., is the recipient of the 1999 award for fiction by the New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association and the Alex Award, given by the Young Adult Library Services Association. Her debut novel, River, Cross My Heart (Little, Brown), has sold more than 700,000 copies and was an October 1999 Oprah Book Club selection and a New York Times bestseller. http://breenaclarke.com/content/index.asp 52

HISTORICAL Women’s Fiction

FLYING TIME By Suzanne North Original Publisher: Brindle & Glass First Publication: Spring 2014 Rights Holder: Transatlantic Literary Agency Material: manuscript (413 pp)

Flying Time portrays a city at the start of its rise to fame and fortune (recently epitomized with the mayoral elections there), of love and adventure, of the impetuosity of youth and the regrets of age. While recovering from a fall in a nursing home, Kay joins a writing group—mainly for residents whose memories are slipping—and finds herself recounting a vivid tale from her past that still haunts her. In 1939, Kay is a lively young woman languishing in a mediocre job who is sent to work for Mr. Miyashita, the only Japanese businessman in Calgary. As his personal secretary, she is privy to not only the extensive collection of photographs that need to be catalogued but also to Mr. Miyashita’s moods, his quick intellect, and his love for Canada. But the world is changing and in 1941 Kay is sent on a quest to Hong Kong. She must recover a bequest for Mr. Miyashita: a collection of wood prints by the famous Japanese artist Sharaku before the Empire of Japan and the ‘Sleeping Giant’ plunge the world into war. On the way, during a dreamlike flight across the Pacific in the Pan Am Clipper, she meets Peyto who, like Mr. Miyashita, will change her life forever. Suzanne North’s sweeping novel takes the reader from Calgary suburbs to Hawaii to Hong Kong on the eve of war and reminds us that, as the modern world came into being, Kay’s world fell away like a shadow. ** “I’m a big fan of Suzanne North…she has a delightful sense of humour; it’s dry and it’s subtle.” –Margaret Cannon on “The Arts Today”, CBC Radio, on Bones to Pick ** Suzanne North lives in Saskatoon and is the author of three mystery novels, the first published by NeWest Press and the other two by McClelland & Stewart. Her books have been translated into German and Icelandic. This is her first historical novel.

HISTORICAL Women’s Fiction

THE PRESIDENT’S LUNCH By Jenny Bond Original Publisher: Hachette Australia First Publication: September 2014 Rights Holder: Hachette Australia Material: manuscript expected December 2013 ** A novel inspired by the story of one of the most powerful couples of all times Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt ** Set against the background of the Depression and the Second World War, The President’s Lunch reimagines a key period in the lives of an unusual and powerful couple: President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the 32nd President of the USA, and his wife, Eleanor. An extraordinary couple, they were united by a common political goal but led drastically disconnected lives and once they entered the White House, their separate camps became dramatically evident. Within the first 100 days of his presidency, Roosevelt valiantly introduced a string of Acts that would boost the economy, lift the nation’s morale and guide the country out of the world’s greatest economic crisis: but this wasn’t the only battle he was fighting. At home, Roosevelt was at war with his housekeeper, Henrietta Nesbitt. A great lover of food, the President had to contend with Henrietta’s poorly devised menus and badly cooked cuisine. Some even say his wife employed Nesbitt as a means of revenge on her philandering, often insensitive husband. Their story, this story, is seen through the eyes of Iris McIntosh, a young woman hit hard by the Depression who becomes an unlikely but ultimately significant White House staffer. Harbouring a long-buried secret, Iris manages to straddle the opposing Roosevelt camps whilst also dipping her own toes into the rocky, unpredictable waters of politics and love. During her time at the Roosevelt’s White House, Iris comes to learn that nothing is black or white – not politics, not relationships and certainly not the hankerings of one’s appetite. The President’s Lunch brings vividly to life the inner world of the White House as the outer world was on the brink of war. It will appeal to fans of novels that re-imagine the lives of real people in the early part of the 20th Century such as The Paris Wife and TC Boyle’s The Women. Jenny Bond is a journalist, copywriter and researcher who, as well as producing books and editorial features, is co-manager of The Hard Word, which undertakes professional writing, media consulting, media training and freelance journalism. With her partner she produces features that are published in many of Australia’s leading publications and carries out major professional writing, public relations and media projects for some of the nation’s most respected organizations. Her first novel, Perfect North, was published in September 2013.

HISTORICAL Women’s Fiction

AFTER THE BOMBING By Clare Morrall Original Publisher: Sceptre First Publication: March 2014 Rights Holder: MBA Literary Option Publisher: France (Fayard) Material: manuscript (362pp)

**An exciting new departure from the acclaimed literary novelist – her ambitious new novel is set in the 1940s and 60’s in south-west England.** In May 1942 Exeter and other British cities were bombed, in retaliation for the bombing of German ports. These cities had been picked for their historic significance – from a Baedeker tourist guide. Among the many buildings which took direct hits in Exeter were a girls’ school and the city’s hospital. This exceptional novel sees 15-year-old Alma Braithwaite survive in the school’s air raid shelter, whilst her parents, both doctors and at work in the hospital, tragically die. Twenty years later Alma is still at the girls’school as the head of music, living in the house she and her brother grew up in. She learns that a new pupil is the daughter of a man she knew in the war – he was warden of the residency she lived in after the school was destroyed – and memories of that time come flooding back. She recalls her close friendship with brilliant pianist Jane Curly and the boys they were billeted with who introduced them to the latest jazz tunes, and partnered them for exuberant dances like the Lindy Hop. Alma’s life is about to be shaken again as she faces an entirely different sort of enemy attack – but who will be her allies this time? Clare Morrall shot to fame when her first novel, Astonishing Splashes of Colour, published by Tindal Street Press, was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2003. She has published four novels since then, one of which, The Man Who Disappeared, was selected for the 2010 TV Book Club's Summer Reads.

Praise for Clare Morrall “Morall writes with poise and delicacy, and her subjects are delightfully offbeat.” ─ The Sunday Times, on The Roundabout Man “A story of self-discovery, of difficult family relationships and redemptive friendships that slips between past and present and unfolds not so much a coming-of-age as a coming-tounderstanding… An enjoyable, engrossing read.” ─ The Independent, on The Language of Others

HISTORICAL Women’s Fiction

THE OUTCASTS By Kathleen Kent Original Publisher: Reagan Arthur Books/Little Brown First Publication: October 2013 Rights Holder: Barer Literary Rights sold: English/UK (Headline) Rights to previous works sold: Chinese (Beijing Xiron), Dutch (De Boekerij), English/UK (Pan Macmillan), German (Goldmann), Italian (Longanesi), Polish (Sonia Draga), Portuguese/Brazil (Nova Fronteira), Russian (Azbooka), Spanish (Espasa Calpe), Taiwanese (Rye Field), Turkish (Pegasus) Material: unedited manuscript (420 pp)

“A cinematic but refreshingly unsentimental take on the classic Western, starring a woman who is no romantic heroine, but a definite survivor.” —Kirkus “Kent seamlessly blends true events with fiction to bring a fraught, endlessly fascinating period of American history to life.”— People A taut, thrilling adventure story about buried treasure, a manhunt, and a woman determined to make a new life for herself in the old west. It’s the 19th century on the Gulf Coast, a time of opportunity and lawlessness. After escaping the Texas brothel where she’d been a virtual prisoner, Lucinda Carter heads for Middle Bayou to meet her lover, who has a plan to make them both rich, chasing rumors of a pirate’s buried treasure. Meanwhile Nate Cannon, a young Texas Ranger with a pure heart and a strong sense of justice, is on the hunt for a ruthless killer named McGill who has claimed the lives of men, women, and even children across the frontier. Who—if anyone—will survive when their paths finally cross? As Lucinda and Nate’s stories converge, guns are drawn, debts are paid, and Kathleen Kent delivers an unforgettable portrait of a woman who will stop at nothing to make a new life for herself. The Outcasts is a tale of kinship, loss, and societal outcasts dispossessed by war and searching for justice against the mythic backdrop of 19th century Texas. Kathleen Kent is the author of the New York Times bestseller The Heretic’s Daughter (Reagan Arthur Books 2008),, which was awarded the David J. Langum, Sr. Prize in American Historical Fiction and The Traitor’s Wife (first published as The Wolves of Andover, Reagan Arthur Books, 2010). She lives in Dallas.

EROTICA

S.E.C.R.E.T #3 By L. Marie Adeline Original Publisher: Doubleday Canada First Publication: TBA Rights Holder: The Cooke Agency International Rights to previous works sold: Portuguese/Brazil (Globo), Bulgarian (Bard Publishers), Croatian (Lumen Izdawastvo), Czech (Fortuna), Danish (Politikens Fiction), English/US (Crown), English/UK (Transworld), Finnish (Otava), French (Presses de la Cité), German (Heyne), Greek (Patakis), Dutch (Orlando), Hungarian (Libri), Icelandic (Forlagid), Hebrew (Kinneret), Italian (Bompiani), Norwegian (Schibsted Forlag), Polish (WAB), Portuguese/Portugal (Planeta), Russian (Atticus), Serbian (Alnari Publishing House), Slovakian (Fortuna), Slovenia (UCILA International), Spanish (Planeta), Swedish (Albert Bonniers), Taiwanese (Emily Publishers), Turkish (Epsilon) Option Publisher: France (Presses de la Cité) Material: manuscript coming soon Website: http://www.secretnovels.com/

In S.E.C.R.E.T there are… No judgments. No limits. No shame. Cassie Robichaud comes back in the third novel of the bestseller S.E.C.R.E.T series. In the first novel after her husband’s death, Cassie Robichaud is waited tables at the rundown Café Rose in New Orleans, when one day she finds a notebook which changes her life. The notebook’s stunningly explicit confessions shock and fascinate Cassie, and eventually lead her to S∙E∙C∙R∙E∙T, an underground society dedicated to helping women realize their wildest, most intimate sexual fantasies. In the second novel still wounded from a recent heartbreak, Cassie throws herself into service with S.E.C.R.E.T., the mysterious organization that changed her life last year by bringing her deepest sexual fantasies to life, one step at a time. Now, it’s Cassie’s turn to guide the group’s newest candidate, Dauphine Mason, recruiting men to execute a new set of fantasies. While it gets Cassie’s mind off Will, the man she truly loves, it also gives her the chance to help watch S.E.C.R.E.T. work its magic on someone new. As both Cassie and Dauphine navigate the rocky path between their hearts and their passions, they discover what they truly want in life and in love. The third one will reveal new secrets, and new fantasies to the readers. L.M. Adeline is a pseudonym for a bestselling author and television producer.

EROTICA

WANTED A Most Wanted Novel

By Julie Kenner Original Publisher: Bantam First Publication: January 2014 Rights Holder: Random House US Rights to previous works sold: English/UK & Commonwealth (Headline), French (Michel Lafon), German (Verlagsgruppe RH/ Diana Verlag), Slovenian (Mladinska Knjiga), Turkish (Inkilap) Option Publisher: France (Michel Lafon) Material: manuscript coming soon

From J. Kenner, New York Times bestselling author of The Stark Trilogy, comes an all-new devastatingly addictive erotic series that is sure to seduce and enthrall Kenner's many fans while introducing her work to a whole new set of readers. An all-new erotic series of three enigmatic and powerful men, and the striking women who can bring them to their knees. “He is everything I crave, all I desperately want—and he is everything I can’t have. Evan Black embodies my every fantasy. He is brilliant, fierce, and devastatingly handsome. But he is also headstrong, dangerous, and burdened with secrets. My family warned me to stay away, that I could never handle Evan’s dark dealings or scarred past. Maybe I should have listened. Maybe I should have run. But our desire is undeniable, and some temptations you just can’t fight. And from the moment we touch—the passion between us consuming us both—I know that I will never be the same.”

Julie Kenner is the author of Release Me, Claim Me and Complete Me. She spent more than ten years as a litigator in Southern California and central Texas, using her rare free time to indulge in her passion of writing.

Anna Jarota Agency List of representation Abrams Artists Agency (US) www.abramsartists.com Acacia House (Canada) Adrian Weston Literary Agency (UK) www.adrianweston.com & Myriad Editions www.myriadeditions.com/home & Annette Green Agency www.annettegreenagency.co.uk/ Antony Harwood Limited (UK) www.antonyharwood.com Ayesha Pande Literary (US) www.pandeliterary.com Barer Literary (US) www.barerliterary.com The Bukowski Agency (Canada) www.bukowskiagency.com The Cooke Agency (Canada) www.cookeagency.ca & Random House Canada www.randomhouse.ca/ & McClelland & Stewart http://www.mcclelland.com/ & ChiZine www.chizinepub.com/ & Rick Broadhead & Associates http://rickbroadhead.com/ Cynthia Cannell Literary Agency (US) www.cannellagency.com David Grossman Literary Agency (UK) Donald Maass Literary Agency (US) www.maassagency.com Einstein Thompson Agency (US) www.einsteinthompson.com Fletcher & Company (US) www.fletcherandco.com Furniss Lawton (UK) www.furnisslawton.co.uk The Garamond Agency (US) www.garamondagency.com The Grayhawk Agency (Taiwan) www.grayhawk-agency.com Hachette Australia www.hachette.com.au

Istanbul Copyright Agency Jacaranda Press (India) www.jacaranda-press.com Jud Laghi Agency LLC (US) www.laghiagency.com Marly Rusoff & Associates (US) www.rusoffagency.com MBA Literary Agents (UK) www.mbalit.co.uk/ McCormick & Williams (US) www.mccormickwilliams.com The Naher Agency (Australia) www.naher.com.au The Nicholas Ellison Agency (US) http://greenburger.com/agent/nick-ellison/ The Perseus Books Group (US) www.perseusbooksgroup.com & Oneworld Publishing www.oneworld-publications.com/ The Plot Lounge (Australia) www.theplotlounge.com/PL/home.html Random House (US) www.randomhouse.com/rhpg Random House (UK) www.randomhouse.co.uk Random House (India) www.randomhouse.co.in Shirley Stewart Literary Agency (UK) The Strothman Agency, LLC (US) www.strothmanagency.com Teri Tobias Agency (US) www.teritobias.com & Amazon Publishing www.apub.com/ Transatlantic Literary Agency (Canada) www.tla1.com University of North Carolina Press (US) www.uncpress.unc.edu/ Westwood Creative Artists (Canada) www.wcaltd.com