Karen Sullivan, publisher of Orenda Books, has acquired World English Language rights for 29-year-old Icelandic debut author Eva Björg Ægisdóttir's The Creak on the Stairs, and a second (untitled) book, in a two-book, London Book Fair pre-empt, negotiated with David Headley of DHH Literary Agency. 

"An exquisitely written, disturbing, claustrophobic and chillingly atmospheric police procedural, centring around the discovery of a woman's body at a lighthouse near Akranes in Iceland, The Creak on the Stairs introduces Chief Investigating Officer Elma, who has returned to the town following a failed relationship, and her colleagues Sævar and Hörður , whose investigations uncover a shocking secret in the dead woman's past that continues to reverberate and threaten in the present day," said Orenda. 

Björg Ægisdóttir was the winner of the inaugural Blackbird Award for Icelandic crime-writing, sponsored by bestselling authors Yrsa Sigurðardóttir and Ragnar Jónasson, and designed to encourage more Icelanders to try their hand at crime, and to write in their native language. 

Sullivan said: "I was instantly drawn to this novel, not just because of the beautiful writing, rich characterisation, complex plotting, and exceptional atmosphere created, but also by the sensitivity with which Eva has depicted a series of shocking crimes, and portrayed its victims. It's hard to believe that this is a debut, and that its author is only 29. The Creak on the Stairs is the perfect addition to our award-winning list of sophisticated international fiction that transports, entertains and enlightens, while tackling societal issues and provoking thought and debate."

Headley said: "I am delighted to place in the very professional and talented hands of Karen at Orenda Books this award-winning and brilliant debut from a fantastic new voice in Nordic crime. The Creak on the Stairs is an intricate, realistic picture of a small town and its inhabitants, and slowly uncovering the characters' secrets, building to a climatic ending. It really is superb!"

Translation by Victoria Cribb, The Creak on the Stairs will be published in Spring 2020.

(Taken from The Bookseller article | Katie Mansfield)

We hope you all had a glorious weekend in the sun. Spring is right around the corner, and in our toes, thanks to a brilliant week. Read on to find out more…
 
Some cracking Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle news this week. It was revealed that the debut novel by Stuart Turton was the No.5 bestselling eBook in December 2018; it was also announced that it has sold over 100,000 copies through TCM (both hardback and paperback) AND Taiwanese rights were sold this week to Spring International Publishers. All in all, not a bad week for Stuart…

We’re thrilled for client David Wragg, whose debut novel The Black Hawks (Articles of Faith Book 1) was acquired by Natasha Bardon at HarperVoyager, an imprint of HarperCollins. Announced this week, the book is slated for release in August 2019.
 
Also announced this week was the acquisition of Eva Björg Ægisdóttir’s debut novel The Creak on the Stairs, by Orenda Books, along with one untitled novel. Eva won Iceland’s inaugural Blackbird Award, sponsored and judged by stalwart Icelandic authors Ragnar Jonasson and Yrsa Sigurðardóttir. The award encourages Icelandic authors to try their hand at crime, writing in their own language. The book will be published in spring 2020. 

M.W. Craven has been named Writer of the Year by Cumbria Life magazine, for his breakout crime novel, The Puppet Show, featuring hardened detective, Washington Poe. The second in the Poe series, Black Summer, will be released in June this year. 

The third in Ragnar Jonasson’s bestselling Dark Iceland series, Blackout, was this week announced as the No.1 bestselling crime novel in France. Vive Ari Thór Arason!

Keris Stainton’s laugh-out-loud romantic comedy, It Had To Be You is only 99p/99c in the UK/US and $1.99 in CAN/AUS, as part of Kobo’s sale. Fancy a read yourself? Click here. 

The Little Brooklyn Bakery, the second in Julie Caplin’s Romantic Escapes series reached No.8 in the Heatseekers chart last week. Congratulations, Julie!

Abi Elphinstone’s upcoming series, the Unmapped Chronicles, kicks off with a short story for World Book Day (Thursday 7th March 2019), Everdark and it has already garnered a magically pleasing quote from none other than Lauren St John (Laura Marlin Mysteries): “Everdark is, by a nautical mile, the best book I’ve read all year. Exquisitely written and so immersive that I lived every heart-stopping moment and heard the snap of sails in my dreams, the first in the Unmapped Chronicles series is irresistible.”

Finally, we’d like to wrap up this week's roundup with a GORGEOUS cover reveal, courtesy of Orenda Books. The Closer I Get by Paul Burston is a claustrophobic psychological thriller that we just know you will love. How brilliant is this cover? We’re so excited for May (*paperback in July)…!

HarperCollins have acquired World English Rights to The Black Hawks by David Wragg, a fantasy debut in which a band of mercenaries take on corrupt religious authorities.

Natasha Bardon, publishing director at HarperVoyager, acquired rights to two books from Harry Illingworth at DHH Literary Agency. 

Slated for publication on 19th August, The Black Hawks, which begins a planned duology, follows an idealistic soldier who finds himself escorting a selfish prince to safety after an attack on his nation's capital. Pursued by assassins and fanatics, they join a company of deadly, constantly bickering, mercenaries to cross a landscape torn apart by conflict. 

Bardon said: "The Black Hawks is a lot of fun. I love epic fantasy with pithy, quick-witted characters and Dave's has it in spades. I think readers will thoroughly enjoy this terrific debut."

Illingworth said Wragg's debut "has everything that I love in a fantasy novel; whilst it can be dark, it is constantly hilarious in the vein of Scott Lynch or Kings of the Wyld, with a writing style comparable to Joe Abercrombie. The dialogue is razor sharp, the world big, the writing intelligent and the cast of characters superb." 

(Take from The Bookseller article | Katie Mansfield)

It’s all go here at DHH, as we prepare for the London Book Fair 2019. Here are some of the highlights from last week.
 
Ragnar Jonasson’s The Darkness reached No.5 on the Amazon Top 100 eBooks, across all genres, and is a No.1 Bestseller under ‘Norse & Icelandic Sagas’. The follow-up to Ragnar’s new Hidden Iceland series, The Island, will be released on 4 April 2019. Pre-order here.

Rumblestar, the forthcoming book in Abi Elphinstone’s new The Unmapped Chronicles series was Editor’s Choice in The Bookseller. This magical adventure boasts a cast of dazzlingly colourful characters and will be released on 30 May 2019. Pre-order here.

We are thrilled that we can finally share the news of Anita Frank’s deal with HQ! Frank’s debut novel, Greyswick, was bought by Kate Mills at HQ in a deal negotiated by David Headley. The book is a spine-tingling tale, set towards the end of the First World War and follows nurse Stella who is sent to recuperate at a house with a tragic past. You can find out more here.
 
The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton was back in the Saturday Times Top 10 last week, at No.8.

​Finally, we’d like to welcome new client Essie Fox to the DHH fold. Essie will be working with David Headley on her new novel, and we are thrilled to have her on board. Welcome, Essie!

HQ has acquired a ghostly debut, Greyswick, and one other novel written by Anita Frank.

Publishing director Kate Mills bought World English Rights from David Headley.

Set towards the end of the First World War, the novel follows nurse Stella, who having witnessed the death of her fiancé in Flanders, is sent to recuperate at a house with a tragic past. When she hears crying in the night and sees small footsteps appearing on the stairs, Stella teams up with a cynical wounded soldier in trying to establish the source of the house's unrest - "with deeply disturbing results", HQ said. 

"I was completely captivated by Greyswick," Mills said. "A beautifully told spine-tingler, it is at once deeply moving and utterly chilling. At a time when few families were untouched by the war, Anita Frank's novel explores grief and loss and the rise of spiritualism in the post-Edwardian era. It's one of those novels you can just lose yourself in; with a nod to the classic ghost story, heart-breaking yet hopeful, and I know it will cast a spell on readers this autumn."

Headley said: "As soon as I read Greyswick I knew I had a gem. In the hands of Kate and HQ, it is the perfect home for this novel and I can't wait for readers to discover this hugely talented storyteller."

Frank said: "Having grown up in a haunted farmhouse, I have always been fascinated by ghost stories, so for my debut novel it seemed obvious to combine my love of history with the intrigue of the supernatural. I am absolutely thrilled to now be working with Kate and her team at HQ and am most grateful to David for championing Greyswick from the start."

Frank worked for the Financial Times Information Group and the British Bankers' Association and is now a full-time carer for her youngest child, who is disabled.

(Taken from The Bookseller article | Heloise Wood)

Kicking off this week’s newsletter with congratulations to Julie Caplin, as TWO of her Romantic Escapes books have had good news this week: The Little Brooklyn Bakery has landed at No. 3 in the Heat Seekers’ List, and The Little Café In Copenhagen has been shortlisted for the Goldsboro Books Contemporary Romantic Novel Award 2019, by the Romantics Novelists’ Association (RNA). We’ve got our fingers and toes crossed!

Joanna Toye was on Wolverhampton Community Radio (WCR FM) last weekend to talk about her debut novel A Store At War. Missed it? Don’t fret, you can catch up here. 

​Two fabulous DHH books were published this week: the paperback of Anna Jacobs’ third in her Ellindale series, One Special Village, and Phyllida Shrimpton’s second YA novel The Colour of Shadows.

Kobo are having a Lovers & Haters Valentine’s Day sale, and whether you are the former or the latter, one of the DHH titles included in the sale will be just for you: Puzzle Girl by Rachael Featherstone and What Was Lost by Jean Levy. Find out more here.
 
It’s been announced that YA author Kate Mallinder will be appearing at YA Fest on Sunday 12th May as part of the Debut Authors panel (chaired by Noah Can’t Even author, Simon James Green), to discuss her novel Summer of No Regrets. If you fancy going along to hear a plethora of fabulous debut talents talk about their upcoming books, you can book tickets here.

Luke Turner’s non-fiction debut Out of the Woods has been made Attitude magazine’s Book of the Month, describing it as “captivating and poignant”. Do not miss this important book.

Finally, there were also three cover reveals, and each of them are absolutely gorgeous: Rocco and the Price of Lies by Adrian Magson (April 2019, The Dome Press); Black Summer by M.W. Craven (June 2019, Constable & Robinson) and the paperback cover for Wrecker by Noel O’Reilly (March 2019, HQ). 

As you may know, the Costa Book Awards was last week and we want to start with a hearty congratulations to Stuart Turton, whose debut novel The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle was nominated for the First Novel Award. Though it wasn’t this year’s winner, we are immensely proud of Stuart and everything that Evelyn has achieved so far. Just this week, the book was included in the Sunday Times Pick of the Paperbacks and described as “ingenious” and rose to No.5 in the eBook chart.

White Lilies, the third in the DI Jack Dylan series by R.C. Bridgestock was published last week, and this is the third book that has been revised and republished by the Dome Press. These new editions, with original cover artwork, would be a fantastic addition to anyone’s bookshelves and at the end of February, you can expect a new DI Jack Dylan book, Poetic Justice, a prequel which takes you back to where it all began.
 
Last week it was announced that Penguin Random House Children’s will be publishing James Goodhand’s debut YA novel, Last Lesson after an auction sale for World Rights, negotiated by Harry Illingworth. The book tackles mental health in teens and toxic masculinity and tells the story of Ollie Morcombe, a once start pupil who, following an accident, is now an outcast and a target of the school bullies who make his life hell. On the last day of school he brings those bullies a gift - a homemade pipe bomb. Last Lesson will be published in spring 2020. 

Looking for something to listen to on the commute, or on a rainy afternoon? Luke Turner’s conversation with Olivia Laing at the London Review Bookshop was made in to a podcast and you can listen here. Alternatively, Luke was also on BBC Radio with Robert Elms discussing his debut non-fiction Out of the Woods.
 
Thrilled for client Phyllida Shrimpton, whose debut YA novel Sunflowers In February (Hot Key Books) has been longlisted for the Branford Boase Awards 2019. This funny and beautiful novel has been breaking hearts cracking smiles since its publication in February 2018, and its place on this longlist is incredibly deserved. Congratulations, Phyllida!