Curtis Brown (Aust) Rights Catalogue June/July 2016 by Curtis Brown Australia

Curtis Brown Australia Rights Catalogue

June/July 2016

Fiction |

136 pp | June 2016

VENICE: WISDOM TREE NOVELLA 2 Nick Earls Part two in a groundbreaking fivenovella series. Publisher: Inkerman and Blunt|Paperback Rights available: World Excl. ANZ, Film/TV Agent: Pippa Masson (pippa@curtisbrown.com.au) Description: Venice is about love and the tensions that pull us apart: the love between Harrison and his Uncle Ryan, who is in need of a person to belong to, Natalie, who is pulled between her art and her heart, and Philâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s awkward stilted love. Think, Nick Hornbyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s About a Boy.

Nick Earls is the author of fourteen books, including bestselling novels Zigzag Street, Bachelor Kisses and Perfect Skin. His work has been published internationally in English and in translation.

Fiction | 400 pp | June 2016

BOUND FOR EDEN Tess LeSue A rollicking, funny historical romance of mistaken identity, wagon trains and an irresistible attraction. Publisher: Harlequin|Paperback Rights Available: Film/TV Agent: Clare Forster (claref@curtisbrown.com.au) Description: Alexandra Barratt has found the perfect man – it’s a shame he thinks she’s a boy. Fleeing from the murderous Grady brothers with a stolen fortune hidden in her luggage and her younger brother and sister in tow, Alex disguises herself as a boy to join a wagon train headed West … a wagon train captained by the irresistible Luke Slater. At first, Alex can’t believe the way every woman in town falls at Luke’s feet, including her suddenly flirtatious sister. But when she sees him naked in the bathtub, she finds herself swooning over him too. As for Luke, he has no idea that the ragtag boy in his care is none other than the woman of his dreams. But when circumstances connive to throw Luke and Alex into each other’s arms, their relationship becomes very complicated indeed… Tess LeSue has degrees in English and History, Communications and Film, and a PhD in Creative Writing. Tess lives in Adelaide with her partner, children, and a cat who doesn’t act much like a cat. When not writing she loves food, gardening, dancing, skiing, and is learning the trumpet.

Fiction |

352 pp | July 2016

MUSIC AND FREEDOM Zoë Morrison A gripping and beautifully written novel in the tradition of Elizabeth is Missing and the work of Elizabeth Harrower. Publisher: Penguin Random House|Paperback Rights available: Film/TV, Audio, Translation Agent: Clare Forster (claref@curtisbrown.com.au) Description: Alice Murray learns to play the piano aged three on an orange orchard in rural Australia. Recognising her daughter's gift, her mother sends Alice to boarding school in the bleak north of England, and there Alice stays for the rest of her childhood. Then she's offered a scholarship to the Royal College of Music in London, and on a summer school in Oxford she meets Edward, an economics professor who sweeps her off her feet. Alice soon finds that Edward is damaged, and she's trapped. Increasingly isolated as the years unravel, eventually Alice can't find it in herself to carry on. Then she hears the most beautiful music from the walls of her house … Zoë Morrison was a research fellow and college lecturer in human geography at Oxford University where she completed her DPhil as a Rhodes Scholar. Her work in research and advocacy has addressed social exclusion and violence against women. Zoë has an LMusA in piano performance. She lives in Melbourne.

Fiction |

240 pp | July 2016

FINE Michelle Wright A brilliant debut of originality, depth and beauty. Publisher: Allen & Unwin|Paperback Rights available: Film/TV, Audio, Translation Agent: Clare Forster (claref@curtisbrown.com.au) Description: Fine shines a light into the quiet corners of human life. By observing the traumas, doubts and isolation of its characters, the book reveals the strength and fragility of people and relationships. This collection of short stories explore the silent sorrows, desires and regrets that we choose to hide when we say that we are 'fine'. As they describe moments big and small in the lives of ordinary people, they invite us to think about who we are when no one is looking. By illuminating these quiet moments in ordinary lives, Michelle Wright follows in a tradition which includes Olga Masters, Amy Witting and Alice Munro. Many of these stories have won Australian and international awards, and this collection was shortlisted for the Victorian Premier's Award for an Unpublished Manuscript. Michelle Wright is an award-winning short story writer who brings to life a remarkable range of characters and has begun an impressively productive career as a writer of short fiction, winning attention in many awards, including The Age short story competition, the Grace Marion Wilson Award, and Overland Victorian University Award.

Fiction |

320 pp | June 2016

PROMISE Sarah Armstrong How far would you go to protect a child in danger? Publisher: Pan Macmillan|Paperback Rights available: Film/TV, World Excl. ANZ, Translation Agent: Pippa Masson (pippa@curtisbrown.com.au) Description: When a new family moves in next door, it takes Anna just two days to realise something is very wrong. She can hear their five-year-old daughter Charlie crying, then sees injuries on the little girl which cannot be ignored. Anna reports the family to the police and social services but when no one comes to Charlie's aid, Anna understands that she is alone with her fears for the child's life. So when Charlie comes to her door asking for help, the only thing Anna can think to do is take the girl and run. Raising delicate but deeply felt questions about our individual responsibility for the children around us, Promise is a novel that obliges the reader to ask: if Charlie were my neighbour, what would I do? Sarah Armstrong's first novel, Salt Rain, was shortlisted for several awards including the Miles Franklin. She was a radio journalist at the ABC, where she won a Walkley Award. She now lives in northern New South Wales with her partner, also a writer, and their daughter.

Non-Fiction

Non-Fiction |

288 pp | June 2016

ERROR AUSTRALIS Ben Pobjie The reality recap of Australian history. Publisher: Affirm Press|Paperback Rights available: UK, US, Audio, Film/TV Agent: Pippa Masson (pippa@curtisbrown.com.au) Description: In Error Australis, Ben Pobjie recaps the history of Australia from its humble beginnings as a small patch of rapidly cooling rock, to its modernday status as one of the major powers of the sub-Asian superAntarctic next-to-Africa region. Pobjie recognises that history can be as gripping as any reality show – as thrilling as it is to see Delta Goodrem’s chair turn around, there is an argument that the Second World War was even more exciting – and like any good recapper, he provides an immediate, visceral sense of what it was like to be there in the moment at our nation’s defining events. All historians know that it is only by looking at where we have been that we can understand who we are, what we stand for, and why nothing seems to work. Ben Pobjie studied history at the University of Western Sydney before his lust for glamour led him to comedy writing. He is known for his TV columns in The Age and Sydney Morning Herald, and political satire for New Matilda, Crikey, and the ABC, among others. He is the author of Superchef and The Book of Bloke and has written for the TV shows Reality Check and The Unbelievable Truth. He lives in Melbourne with his wife, three children and a rising sense of panic.

Non-Fiction | 320 pp | July 2016

BEAUTIFUL FAILURES Lucy Clark 'I imagine we would all agree on the things education should not be. It should not, surely, make one quarter of all kids drop out and be lost to learning.' Publisher: Penguin Random House|Paperback Rights available: Film/TV, Audio, UK/US, translation. Agent: Fiona Inglis (fiona@curtisbrown.com.au) Description: What is the meaning of success? What do you do when the system says your child is a failure? Why is it so hard for parents to talk to each other about how badly their kids are doing? We all talk about how much pressure there is on kids today; we all shake our heads at what seems to be an epidemic of anxiety . . . so why is it so hard to change our expectations? Moreover, when there are children who want to harm themselves because of stress about school, how can we fail to act? Beautiful Failures explores, through personal experience and journalistic investigation, the way the education system both fails the kids who struggle and puts enormous, mental-health-threatening pressure on all kids, including those who 'succeed'. Lucy Clark is a journalist and editor with 31 yearsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; experience in newspapers and magazines in Sydney, London and New York. She was most recently the editor of the news and opinion website The Hoopla. She is now a Senior Editor at Guardian Australia.

Young Adult and Middle Grade

Young Adult |

288 pp | July 2016

BLACK Fleur Ferris Shut the windows. Lock the doors. You don’t know who’s coming. Publisher: Penguin Random House|Paperback Rights available: Film/TV, Audio, US/UK Agent: Tara Wynne (tara@curtisbrown.com.au) Description: Ebony Marshall is in her final year of high school. Five months, two weeks and four days… She can't wait to leave the town where she's known only as ‘Black'. Because of her name, of course. But for another reason, too. Everyone says Black Marshall is cursed. Three of her best friends have died in tragic accidents. After Oscar, the whispers started. Now she's used to being on her own. It's easier that way. But when her date for the formal ends up in intensive care, something in quiet little Dainsfield starts to stir. Old secrets are revealed and terrifying new dangers emerge. If only Black could put all the pieces together, she could work out who her real enemies are. Should she run for her life, or stay and fight? Fleur Ferris spent the first seventeen years of her life growing up on a farm in Patchewollock, north-west Victoria. She then moved twenty times in twenty years. She now lives a more settled lifestyle on a rice farm in southern New South Wales, with her husband and three young children.

Middle-Grade |

112 pp | July 2016

KICKING GOALS WITH GOODESY AND MAGIC Anita Heiss AFL legends Adam Goodes and Michael Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Loughlin are blood brothers and great mates. Publisher: Black Inc.|Paperback Rights available: Film/TV Agent: Tara Wynne (tara@curtisbrown.com.au) Description: These AFL legends are also two of the best footballers ever to play for the Sydney Swans. Between them, they played over 650 games with over 900 goals. But what were Goodesy and Magic like when they were kids? What kind of scrapes did they get into at school? And what was it like to go from being normal teenagers to AFL superstars? Find out all this and much more in Kicking Goals, the story of Adam and Michaelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s friendship in their own words, as told to Anita Heiss. Dr Anita Heiss is the author of non-fiction, historical fiction, commercial women's fiction, poetry, social commentary and travel articles. She is a Lifetime Ambassador of the Indigenous Literacy Foundation and a proud member of the Wiradjuri nation of central NSW. Anita was a finalist in the 2012 Human Rights Awards and the 2013 Australian of the Year Awards. She lives in Sydney.

Childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

Childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s | 32pp | July 2016

OH ALBERT! Davina Bell and Sara Acton A perfect story about a family and their not-so-perfect (but loveable!) dog. Publisher: Penguin Random House|Paperback Rights available: Film/TV Agent: Pippa Masson (pippa@curtisbrown.com.au) Description: Albert can't help getting into mischief when no one is around. But one day he goes too far . . . Oh, Albert! Davina Bell was born in Perth and completed a law degree before moving to Melbourne to take up the Professional Writing and Editing course at RMIT University. Davina now lives in the Margaret River region of WA's south-west, where she writes full time on the edge of a vineyard. Her first picture-book, The Underwater Fancy Dress Parade, will be published in October 2014.

Curtis Brown Australia

Recently Delivered Titles

Fiction |

300 pp | March 2017

TOO EASY J.M. Green Stella Hardy is back. Publisher: Scribe Publications|Paperback Rights available: Audio, Film/TV Agent: Clare Forster Contact: (claref@curtisbrown.com.au) Description: Stella Hardy is back, stumbling into inner-city crime and corruption, dodging corrupt cops, avoiding an outlaw motorcycle gang and rescuing a gambling addict. J.M. Green studied professional writing at RMIT. Her first novel, Good Money, introduced Stella Hardy and was shortlisted in the Victorian Premier’s Prize for an Unpublished Manuscript. She lives in the western suburbs of Melbourne. Her feature articles for Overland Literary Journal include ‘Ernie Althoff: the concept of organised sound’, a tribute to a Melbourne sound artist, and ‘In the slipstream’, a look at hard-to-place fiction genres.

Fiction | 360 pp | March 2017

THE HIDDEN HOURS Sara Foster Keeping her secret may save her family. But telling it may save her life. Publisher: Simon & Schuster|Paperback Rights available: Film/TV, Audio Agent: Tara Wynne (tara@curtisbrown.com.au) Description: Arabella Lane, popular daughter of a prominent MP, is found dead in the Thames on a frosty winter’s morning after an office Christmas party. No one is sure whether she jumped or was pushed. The one person who may know the truth is the newest employee at Parker & Lane – the office temp, Eleanor. Eleanor falls under suspicion as one of the last people to talk to Arabella, and because she cannot recall a few vital hours of that night. When she finds herself holding a key piece of evidence, she’s unsure whether she dare reveal it to the police. As Eleanor desperately tries to recover her memory and uncover the truth, her own family are dragged further into the murky terrain that surrounds Arabella’s death. Sara Foster is the critically acclaimed author of three bestselling psychological suspense novels. Come Back to Me reached the Sydney Morning Herald top ten. Beneath the Shadows, was an Australian Sunday Telegraph bestseller, and Shallow Breath was longlisted for a Davitt Award. Sara lives in Perth, Western Australia, with her husband and two young daughters.

Fiction | 240 pp | April 2017

LIVING ON HOPE Demet Divaroren A new novel about love and difference. Publisher: Allen & Unwin |Paperback Rights available: Film/TV, Audio Agent: Clare Forster (clare@curtisbrown.com.au) Description: This novel is a wonderful exploration of contemporary society, crosscultural friendships, domestic violence and racism, one of its great strengths is its representation of different kinds of love – from that of friendships to family bonds. Demet Divaroren is a Melbourne-based writer and editor who teaches creative writing at Victoria University. Her writing has appeared in Griffith REVIEW, Island magazine, Scribe’s New Australian Stories Anthology, The Age, Epicure and The Big Issue. This is Demet’s first novel and will explore contemporary Australia, cross-cultural friendships, domestic violence, racism and different kinds of love.

Non-Fiction

Non-Fiction |

300 pp | August 2016 |

ALBANESE; TELLING IT STRAIGHT Karen Middleton The moving personal story behind the very public political face of Labor's Anthony Albanese. Publisher: Penguin Random House|Paperback Rights available: Audio, Film/TV Agent: Fiona Inglis Contact: (fiona@curtisbrown.com.au) Description: This is the story of Anthony Albanese and the remarkable mother, Maryanne, who raised him. Anthony learned his political craft among the tough men and women of NSW Labor, inheriting his mother's devotion to social justice, the South Sydney Rabbitohs and the party his family had served for three generations. Maryanne adored her only child and Anthony his only parent. Until his teens, he believed she had been widowed before his birth. Then one evening, she sat him down and told him the truth. Journalist Karen Middleton is Chief Political Correspondent for The Saturday Paper. Her first book, An Unwinnable War - Australia in Afghanistan was published in 2011. Previously Chief Political Correspondent for SBS Television, Karen has worked in the Federal Parliamentary Press Gallery since 1989 and served as its president for four years. She is a freelance contributor to ABC radio, Monocle24 Radio UK and Radio New Zealand and is based in Canberra.

Memoir | 360 pp| April 2017

UNMASKED Turia Pitt with Bryce Corbett The chronicle of one woman's determination to not only live, but thrive. Publisher: Penguin Random House|Paperback Rights available: Film/TV, World excl. ANZ Agent: Pippa Masson (pippa@curtisbrown.com.au) Description: An honest and inspiring chronicle of Turia's life since her accident. Following on from her highly successful memoir, Everything to Live For, this book will cover what she's done since, what she's learnt and offers her reflections on how to live your best life. Turia Pitt has a double degree in Mining Engineering and Science. She worked as a model before landing her dream job with Rio Tinto at their prestigious Argyle Diamond Mine and moving to Kununurra with her partner, Michael. Their lives were turned upside-down when she was trapped by a grassfire in a 100kilometre ultra-marathon in September 2011, and suffered burns to 65 per cent of her body. For now, she is living in her hometown of Ulladulla, surrounded by friends and family. She spends her time at physiotherapy, the gym, and is studying for her Masters.

Middle Grade and Young Adult

Middle Grade | 160 pp | March 2017

WHIMSY AND WOE Rebecca McRitchie How will Whimsy and Woe find and save their parents? Publisher: HarperCollins|Paperback Rights available: Film/TV, Audio Agent: Tara Wynne (tara@curtisbrown.com.au) Description: After their parents abandon them during a game of hide-and-seek, Whimsy and Woe Mordaunt are sent to live with their austere aunt. After three years all hope that their parents would one day return is well and truly lost. That is until the day a sinister guest by the name of Mr Solt arrives with a contract to buy them. The siblings definitely do not want to live with a strange and suspicious man that smells like cabbages, so when they stumble upon a half-charred letter that reveals their parents were in fact kidnapped, Whimsy and Woe use exploding pies and a half-assembled hot air balloon to escape in search of their parents. Rebecca McRitchie would love to tell you that she was raised by wolves in the depths of a snow laden forest until she stumbled upon and saved a village from the fiery peril of a disgruntled dragon. But, truthfully, she can be found clutching several books, lurking in the aisle of a bookstore or staring most resolutely at the blinking cursor on her computer screen.

Young Adult | 240 pp | January 2017

DARK HEART James Phelan A white-knuckled suspense thriller that will keep your light on at night. Publisher: Pan Macmillan|Paperback Rights available: Film/TV Agent: Pippa Masson (pippa@curtisbrown.com.au) Description: A US consulate worker wakes up in a hospital in Libya and has no idea how she got there. She's covered in the blood of at least 16 people, and says she'll only talk to one person: Jed Walker. Inspired by various pandemics Dark Heart is a white-knuckled suspense thriller that will make readers keep the light on at night. James Phelan is the award-winning author of twenty-seven novels and one work of non-fiction. He spent five years on staff at The Age newspaper, while obtaining his MA (Writing) at Swinburne. He followed up with a PhD (Young Adult Literature, Swinburne), and has been a full-time novelist since 2006, selling over a million books world-wide.

Young Adult | 240 pp | May 2016

LIVING FOR MARTEL MADDUX Darren Groth The journey of a lifetime. Publisher: Penguin Random House|Paperback Rights available: Film/TV, Audio, UK Agent: Tara Wynne (tara@curtisbrown.com.au) Description: At the end of highschool 18 year old Munro Maddux decides to head to the land Down Under to fulfil the wish and desire of his late Downs Syndrome sister. The year proves to be not only a geographical one but also a journey of self-discovery and growth. Originally from Brisbane, Darren Groth now lives in Vancouver, Canada, with his wife and twelve-year-old twins. His books have been published on both sides of the Pacific and include Kindling and Most Valuable Potential. Darren's first YA novel, Are You Seeing Me?, has been shortlisted for several major awards including the Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year, NSW Premier's Literary Awards, Queensland Literary Awards and the Governor General's Literary Awards in Canada.