Some very different books on the way....

From Publishers Lunch Weekly...

US Weekly film critic Thelma Adams's PLAYDATE, a suburban dramedy that follows the increasingly inappropriate entanglements of two families over four days as Santa Ana winds blow a brush fire toward the California coast, to Kathleen Gilligan at St. Martin's, by Rebecca Oliver at William Morris Endeavor (NA).

THRILLER:

John le Carre's new book, moving to Kathryn Court at Viking (his move to Viking UK was announced previously), for publication in 2010, by Jonny Geller at Curtis Brown UK.

GENERAL/OTHER:

Cynthia Ozick's FOREIGN BODIES, set in post-war New York, Paris, and California, is the story of a divorced schoolteacher who tries to resolve her brother's family dramas, leading to extraordinary and wholly unanticipated results, to Bruce Nichols at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, for publication in winter 2011, by Melanie Jackson at Melanie Jackson Agency (NA).


Wendy Wax's THE SAND CASTLE, the story of three women who lose everything to a Bernie Madoff-like scam, except a one-third share of a derelict beachfront mansion which they must somehow rebuild if they hope to do the same for their lives, to Wendy McCurdy at Berkley, for publication in 2011, in a two-book deal, by Stephanie Kip Rostan at Levine Greenberg Literary Agency (NA).

AROHO Foundation Literary Gift of Freedom winner Summer Wood's WRECKER, about a young boy (called Wrecker) whose mother has been sent to prison, and the eclectic Northern California community that comes together to raise him in her absence, to Kathy Belden at Bloomsbury, and Helen Garnons-Williams at Bloomsbury UK, by Dan Conaway at Writers House (World English).

NON-FICTION...

BIOGRAPHY:

Author of Profile of a Prodigy and Fischer intimate Frank Brady's ENDGAME: The Spectacular Rise and Fall of Bobby Fischer, a biography of one of the 20th century's most complex and tortured geniuses based on newly discovered documents left behind by the chess champion, who died in early 2008, exploring both Fischer;s mystique and his Howard Hughes-like descent into madness, to Rick Horgan at Crown, in a very good deal, for publication in 2010, by Jeff Schmidt at NY Creative Management (world).
Rights: LKaplan@randomhouse.com


HISTORY/POLITICS/CURRENT AFFAIRS:

Author of In the President's Secret Service Ronald Kessler's book on the FBI, to Mary Choteborsky at Crown, by Robert Gottlieb and Scott Miller at Trident Media Group.
Foreign: KSchulze@randomhouse.com

Historian at the War College David Kaiser's HOW WE WENT TO WAR: Roosevelt, His Cabinet, and the Plan For Victory, based on previously untapped sources, pitched as a 'Team of Rivals' approach to the eighteen months of economic and military planning leading up to the US entry into WWII by examining FDR's leadership style and the struggle for consensus within his cabinet, to Lara Heimert at Basic, in a pre-empt, by Christy Fletcher and Donald Lamm at Fletcher & Company (NA)

Martin Sandler's THE LETTERS OF JOHN F. KENNEDY, the first-ever published collection of JFK's correspondence to and from everyone from Khrushchev to schoolchildren, to be published for fiftieth anniversary of Kennedy's death, to Peter Ginna at Bloomsbury, for publication in Fall 2013 (World).

MEMOIR:

New York magazine contributing writer Stephen Rodrick's THE MAGICAL STRANGER, about his father's fatal plane crash as a Navy pilot in 1979, as well as a contemporary story about the mission of Navy pilots, and the consequences that both have had for the families that are left behind, to Tim Duggan at Harper, by David McCormick at McCormick & Williams Literary Agency.


Debra Chwast and her son, painter Seth Chwast's AN UNEXPECTED LIFE, the heavily illustrated memoir of a young man with autism who has become a celebrated and award-winning painter, to Barbara Berger at Sterling, for publication in Spring 2010, by Faith Hamlin at Sanford J. Greenburger Associates (World).


NARRATIVE:

Journalist Peter Zuckerman and Pakistan program director for the Mountain Fund Amanda Padoan's BURIED IN THE SKY, telling the story of the catastrophic K2 expedition of 2008 through the eyes of two Sherpa climbers who survived, and providing a window into the customs and cultures of the often-anonymous porters upon whom Western climbers depend, to Tom Mayer at Norton, at auction, for publication in 2011, by Dan Conaway and Stephen Barr at Writers House (NA).

NPR producer and contributor Charlie Schroeder's RE-ENACTOR: Learning About History One Bloodless Battle at a Time, in which an everyday guy humorously attempts to learn what he missed in history class by participating in fifteen different war re-enactments, from the Greeks to Vietnam, alongside the passionate hobbyists who live to recreate the past, to Meghan Stevenson at Hudson Street Press, at Jonathan Lyons at Lyons Literary (NA).


Wrap...