We’ll start with some lovely deal announcements. Congratulations to Paul Burston, whose new “disturbingly relevant” thriller, The Closer I Get plus one untitled novel, was bought by Orenda Books in a Frankfurt pre-empt. David H Headley negotiated World English rights with Orenda publisher, Karen Sullivan and the book is due for publication in 2019.
Broo Doherty has sold Stephen Moss’ The Twelve Birds of Christmas to Rowan Yapp at Random House, in a UK & Commonwealth deal. The book will be out in Autumn 2019, and will tell you all you need to know, from your turkey to your partridge!
Lizzie Lovell’s second book The West Country Winery has been bought by Allen & Unwin, who published her first, The Juniper Gin Joint. This boozy romp through Thomas Hardy’s domain will be released in July 2019.
Spanish rights for M.W.Craven’s The Puppet Show have been sold to Roca Editorial. This follows several other territories the novel has sold in: Germany (Weltbild); Czech Republic (Dobrovsky); Turkey (Arkadya Yayinlari); Russia (AST); Slovakia (Ikar) and Poland (Filia).
Editions Bragelonne have bought French rights for Janie Millman’s Life’s A Drag. Bragelonne have also snapped up rights to Matthew Crow’s Baxter’s Requiem.
In the ever-growing list for deals for Stuart Turton’s The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle have been sold to Hungary’s Maxim.
We are delighted to announce that an audiobook deal has been done this week for Janie Millman’s Sky’s the Limit (Oakhill Publishing / Ulverscroft), which will be out on 15th March 2019.
Lulah Ellender’s Elisabeth’s Lists was mentioned in Laura Freeman’s Sunday Times Style article about the art of list therapy. Also in the media this week, Ragnar Jonasson’s The Darkness was released this week in the US / Canada and has been given a glowing review in The Washington Post: “Icelandic author Ragnar Jonasson takes a major chance - that works extremely well - in The Darkness, the launch of a new detective series about Detective Inspector Hulda Hermannsdottir. The Darkness melds an insightful character study with a solid plot for an outstanding novel and shows how he could sustain this as a series.”
Also this week, The Darkness reached No. 10 in the Heatseekers Chart, and the author wrote a Guardian piece entitled “Can the language of the Vikings fight off the invasion of the English?”, a fascinating debate on whether or not the influx of TV and tourism to the Nordic island nation is a growing threat to its “literary vigour”. To read the full article, click here.
Sophie Duffy’s latest novel Betsy and Lilibet continues to garner fantastic praise: “A charming and funny look at family, loyalty and love during the Queen’s reign. I think Her Majesty would approve” (Cathy Bramley); “Told with wit and warmth, this is a gritty, truly British saga; from war time childhood fortitude through to a lifetime of love, loss and laughter. Dive in a enjoy!” (Paul McVeigh); “So atmospheric you can almost smell the Brylcreem” (Laurie Graham); “Clever and charming, I loved this look at the complications of family life” (Katie Fforde).
Abi Elphinstone’s new series, The Unmapped Chronicles has begun its adventures with a taster, Everdark (Simon & Schuster), for World Book Day 2019. Abi says “I hope Smudge’s tale in Everdark shows kids from all walks of life that sometimes the truly extraordinary people - the ones who defeat harpies & save kingdoms - are the ones nobody notices at first.”
In other exciting Abi Elphinstone news, her first picture book The Snow Dragon (illustrated by Fiona Woodcock) will be published by Simon & Schuster in October 2019. The book began as a short story in Winter Magic, a collection of short stories curated by Abi and also published by S&S in 2016.
The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton is sticking on the Sunday Times paperback bestseller this week, at No. 6. Not only that, the book is No. 13 in the whole UK market, and this includes all hardback, paperback, fiction and non-fiction.
Anna Jacobs’ latest book, The Cotton Lass and Other Stories has been published by Allison & Busby. This collection of stand-alone short stories is a treat for new readers and dedicated fans alike.
Dutch copies of The Robin by Stephen Moss or, as we should say, Het roodborstje een biografie, have arrived in the office.

Finally, we’d like to remind budding authors out there that submissions for our Pitch DHH: York event close at 6pm on Thursday 25 October. Have you written a novel? Would you like to talk to us about it and receive one-on-one feedback? Then please think about submitting to us, we’d love to read your work. For more information, click here. David H Headley was on BBC Radio Leeds this week to discuss this exciting event and what it is we’re looking for. Click here to listen.