Some Most Unusual Books....

From Publishers Lunch Weekly:

FICTION/DEBUT:

New York Social Diary contributing editor, CEO of wealth management firm
Lebenthal & Company, and active figure on the NY social scene, Alexandra
Lebenthal's debut novel, telling the story of four Manhattan socialites
whose perfect Upper East Side lives get turned upside down when the
economic collapse wreaks havoc on their pampered existences, to Karen
Kosztolnyik at Grand Central, by Richard Curtis of Richard Curtis
Associates (World).

Sandi Tan's THE BLACK ISLE, a "ghost history" of Singapore, in which an
elederly psychic recounts her amazing role in the growth of the city
state from a backward island haunted by countless spirits to a sleek
center of world finance, to Mitch Hoffman at Grand Central, in a very
nice deal, by Barbara Braun at Barbara Braun Associates (world).

Poet Jillian Weise's THE COLONY, the story of a 25 year-old who starts
up a relationship with a swashbuckling, suicidal cowboy and develops a
friendship with Charles Darwin, all at the Cold Spring Harbor Colony,
where her missing leg will be re-grown, to Anne Horowitz at Soft Skull,
in a nice deal, by Julia Kenny at the Elaine Markson Agency (NA).

MYSTERY/CRIME:

Swedish crime writer (with over 3 million copies sold in Sweden, and
translated into 25 languages) Camilla Lackberg's debut THE ICE PRINCESS,
set in the coastal town of Fjallbacka, where a young writer tries to
solve the murder of her childhood friend, to Jessica Case at Pegasus, in
a two-book deal, on behalf of Tara Hiatt and Harper UK.

GENERAL/OTHER:

Thrity Umrigar's THE CLARIFYING PRINCIPLE, the story of four 50-year-old
Indian women and what happens when one of them, now married and living
in America, learns she is dying and comes to feel deeply how much she
missed by leaving behind her three best women friends from college, and
their decision to travel from India to be with her one last time, to
Claire Wachtel at Harper, by Marly Rusoff of Marly
Rusoff & Associates (world, excl. Germany).

Soldiers of Salamis author Javier Cercas's THE ANATOMY OF A MOMENT,
telling what lay behind the attempted coup in the Spanish Parliament on
23 February 1981 by exploring the moment when Lieutenant-Colonel Tejero
and the Guardia Civil burst into the Cortes and fired their weapons, and
were, unbeknownst to them, captured on tv cameras, to Bill Swainson at
Bloomsbury UK, with Anton Mueller, at Bloomsbury, by Gloria Masdeu at
the Carmen Balcells Agencia Literaria.

NON-FICTION/BIOGRAPHY:

Journalist and CEO Margaret Heffernan's WILLFUL BLINDNESS, exploring the
psychological, social and organizational mechanism whereby critical
faculties are impaired and disabled in individuals and groups, even
nations and societies; arguing that the tendency to deliberately blind
ourselves to the obvious, to refuse to face facts and look the other way
is at the root of human behavior; drawing on examples from business and
finance, science, psychology, sociology and history, to George Gibson at
Bloomsbury, at auction, by Joelle Delbourgo at Joelle Delbourgo
Associates.

Canadian rights to Kristin Cochrane at Doubleday Canada, in a pre-empt.
Foreign: Natasha Fairweather at AP Watt

HISTORY/POLITICS/CURRENT AFFAIRS:

HE NEW BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY OF FILM author David Thomson's LET THERE
BE LIGHT: FILMING THE TWENTIETH CENTURY, the story of the past hundred
years through the movies and how motion pictures and their makers were
shaped by the era's cultural, political, and aesthetic movements, and
how movies both reflected and influenced the very century that saw the
birth of its defining -- and most popular -- art form, to Jonathan
Galassi of Farrar, Straus, by Steve Wasserman at Kneerim & Williams
(world English).

MEMOIR:

Actress Stefanie Powers's ONE FROM THE HART, with NYT bestselling author
Richard Buskin, covering the author's career that commenced during the
last days of the star-studded studio system; her extensive, ongoing
involvement with wildlife conservation; and her close relationship with
the talented but troubled Oscar-winning actor, William Holden, to
Mitchell Ivers at Pocket, by Frank Weimann at The Literary Group (world).

Musician John Forté's memoir about his life and career, including his
journey from Brownsville, Brooklyn to Phillips Exeter to The Fugees,
followed by over seven years in prison for drug trafficking before
having his sentence commuted by President Bush last November, to David
Rosenthal at Simon & Schuster, with Sarah Hochman editing, for
publication in spring 2010, by Ed Victor at Ed Victor Ltd. (world
English).

NARRATIVE:

Popular Science editor Seth Fletcher's BOTTLED LIGHTNING, a narrative
account of the advent of the lithium-ion battery and the technological
and cultural transformations it has enabled -- including the rapid
miniaturization of consumer electronics, culminating in the cellphone,
laptop and the iPhone; the resurrection of the electric car, starting
with GM's moon-shot, the Chevy Volt; and the impending clean-energy
revolution -- along with the resource struggles and geopolitical drama
that could accompany the rise of the lithium economy, to Joseph
Wisnovsky at Farrar, Straus, by Larry Weissman at Larry Weissman
Literary (world English).

National Outdoor Book Award winner Lou Ureneck's CABIN: Two Brothers, a
Dream and Five Acres in Maine, in which the author, through chronicling
the building of a small cabin in the Maine woods with his brother, tells
a deeper story about home, family, the knockdowns and disappointments
that middle age bring, and the healing power of nature, to Paul Slovak
at Viking Penguin, for publication in 2011, by Jill Kneerim at Kneerim &
Williams (world).

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