Adult & Children...BOOKS!

From Publishers Lunch Weekly....

Fiction:
General/Other...

#1 NYT bestselling author of The Historian and The Swan Thieves Elizabeth Kostova's untitled new novel, set in the U.S. and Eastern Europe, moving between the past and present and combining elements of suspense, myth and folklore, moves to Libby McGuire for Ballantine, with Jennifer Hershey to edit, for publication in 2013, by Amy Williams at McCormick & Williams Literary Agency (NA).

NYT bestselling author Amy Tan's THE VALLEY OF AMAZEMENT, set in 1890-1940 San Francisco and Shanghai, about a painting called the 'Valley of Amazement' that is passed along through three generations of women of the same family, moves to Dan Halpern at Ecco for the US, by Sandra Dijkstra at Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency, and to Iris Tupholme at Harper Canada, by John Pearce at Westwood Creative Artists on behalf of Sandy Dijkstra.
UK rights sold again to Clare Reihill at Fourth Estate.

Author of THE IMPRESSIONIST, TRANSMISSION and MY REVOLUTIONS, Hari Kunzru's GODS WITHOUT MEN, a multi-stranded narrative set in the Mohave Desert revolving around the disappearance of an autistic little boy whose parents find themselves at the center of a media witch hunt that kicks off a malestrom of events, where the present is connected with the past, before the boy is found mysteriously changed, moving to Carole Baron at Knopf, for publication in spring 2012, by Jonny Geller at Curtis Brown.

NYT bestselling author of COLD MOUNTAIN and THIRTEEN MOONS Charles Frazier's NIGHTWOODS, set in rural North Carolina in the 1950s and telling of a young woman who cares for her murdered sister's twins, to Random House, for release in October 2011, by Amanda Urban at ICM.

Children's/Middle Grade...

Anne Cameron's ANGUS McFANGUS, the first in a four-book series about a boy who learns he is someone with the rare ability to predict catastrophic weather, to Steve Geck at Greenwillow Books, in a pre-empt, by Madeleine Buston at the Darley Anderson.

Children's/Picture Book...

Caldecott-winning author of WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE and other classic children's books (which have collectively sold nearly 30 million copies in the US) Maurice Sendak's BUMBLE-ARDY, the first book illustrated and written by Sendak since OUTSIDE OVER THERE in 1981, about a mischievous pig who has reached the age of nine without ever having a birthday party -- all that changes when Bumble throws a party for himself and invites all his friends, leading to a wild masquerade that quickly gets out of hand, to Harper Children's, for publication in September 2011.

Children's/Young Adult....

USA Today bestselling self-published ebook phenomenon Amanda Hocking's WATERSONG series, to Rose Hilliard at St. Martin's, for four books, at auction, reportedly for over $2 million, for publication beginning in Fall 2012, by Steven Axelrod at The Axelrod Agency (World English).
Lenore Appelhans's debut YA novel LEVEL 2, a thriller set in the liminal place between our world and heaven, about a 17 year-old girl who spends her days reliving her memories from the security of her pod until she gets broken out by a boy from her past life, to Justin Chanda and Alexandra Cooper at Simon & Schuster Children's, in a pre-empt, in a two-book deal, by Stephen Barbara at Foundry Literary + Media.
Film rights sold simultaneously to Wolfgang Hammer at CBS Films, by CAA. Audio rights to Rebecca Waugh at Listening Library, also in a pre-empt.
hgordon@foundrymedia.com

NYT bestselling author Gail Carriger's debut YA historical fantasy series ESPIONAGE AND ETIQUETTE, set in her Soulless Alexia Tarabotti world but 25 years prior, an incorrigible aristocrat is sent off to finishing school to learn how to be lady only to discover that the school trains young ladies alright but for the wrong kind of "finishing," pitched as Ally Carter meets Steampunk, to Kate Sullivan at Little, Brown Children's, in a pre-empt, in a four-book deal, by Kristin Nelson at Nelson Literary Agency (NA).
UK & Translation: wlee@fieldingagency.com
Film: macendejas@lynnpleshetteagency.com

Christopher Paolini's INHERITANCE, the fourth and final book in his #1 NYT bestselling Inheritance cycle, to Michelle Frey at Knopf Children's, for simultaneous publication in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand on November 8, 2011, by Simon Lipskar at Writers House (World).
Random House Germany imprint CBT will again publish the German edition.

TV...

Robert Egan and Kurt Pitzer's EATING WITH THE ENEMY, a true story about a New Jersey rib joint owner who befriended high-level North Korean officials in New York, improving decades of poor US diplomacy and eventually negotiating with them over nuclear proliferation, to HBO Films for James Gandolfini to star and Robert De Niro's Tribeca Productions to produce, by Hotchkiss and Associates, on behalf of Jim Rutman at Sterling Lord Literistic and Alice Martell at The Martell Agency.

NONFICTION: Advice/Relationships...

Oscar-nominated filmmaker and novelist Dana Adam Shapiro's YOU CAN BE RIGHT OR YOU CAN BE MARRIED, in which the author intimately interviews dozens of divorced men and women in hopes of understanding what really makes marriages fail so that he can find happiness in a marriage of his own -- pitched as "the most provocative relationship guide couples will ever read," to Nan Graham and Whitney Frick at Scribner, by Daniel Greenberg at Levine Greenberg Literary Agency (World English).
efisher@levinegreenberg.com

History/Politics/Current Affairs....

Governor of Indiana Mitch Daniels's KEEPING THE REPUBLIC: Limited Government, Unlimited Citizens, addressing America's urgent need for limited but more effective government, fiscal discipline at all levels, increased liberty for individuals, and a restoration of our national greatness, to Adrian Zackheim for Sentinel, for publication in September 2011, by Robert Barnett of Williams & Connolly.


Washington, D.C.-based BBC State Department correspondent Kim Ghattas's FROM BEIRUT TO WASHINGTON, the story of Hillary Clinton's time as Secretary of State, an on-the-ground account of Ghattas's time traveling and reporting as part of Clinton's press corps, using Ghattas's global perspective as a Dutch-Lebanese citizen raised in the crossfire of her country's civil war to explore the larger question of America's place in a rapidly changing global landscape, and drawing on extensive interviews inside the administration, around Washington and further afield, to Serena Jones at Times Books, in a pre-empt, by Dorian Karchmar at William Morris Endeavor (NA).

Professor of Egyptology at UCLA and host of Discovery Channel's Out of Egypt Kara Cooney's HATSHEPSUT: THE WOMAN WHO BECAME KING, providing the definitive account of one of the ancient world's most accomplished and audacious rulers who at the age of 25 took on a masculine identity to transform herself into the androgynous ruler (and god on earth) of ancient Egypt, reigning peacefully and successfully for over twenty years, only to have her name and likeness mysteriously erased from monuments throughout the kingdom after her death, to Vanessa Mobley at Crown, for publication in Spring 2014, by Marc Gerald at The Agency Group.
sasharaskin@theagencygroup.com



Humor...

Dan Sinker's THE F***ING EPIC TWITTER QUEST OF @MAYOREMANUEL, an at-the-time anonymous, fake Rahm Emanuel mayoral campaign Twitter feed, annotated and to include Sinker's first-person account of the phenomenon that has attracted loads of followers and media, with a Foreword by co-founder of Twitter Biz Stone, to Brant Rumble at Scribner, by Seth Fishman at The Gernert Company in association with co-agent Johnny Temple (NA).

Memoir...

Founder of SociopathWorld.com M.E. Thomas's HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT: Inside the Mind of a Sociopath, the first-ever confession by a high-functioning, non-criminal, diagnosed sociopath and accomplished law professor, a story of cruelty and manipulation followed by redemption and ultimately love and friendship, combining memoir and the latest research on the science of the "empathy-challenged," to Jenna Ciongoli at Broadway, at auction, by Emmanuelle Morgen at Judith Ehrlich Literary Management (NA).

Legendary conductor Maestro James Levine's untitled book, to be written with Harvey Sachs, on his brilliant, more than fifty-year career in music (35 of those at the helm of the Metropolitan Opera), to Jonathan Segal at Knopf, by Denise Shannon at Denise Shannon Literary Agency (World).

Narrative...

Caroline Stoessinger's ALICE'S WORLD, in which the life of 107-year old Alice Herz-Sommer, the world's oldest living Holocaust survivor and concert pianist, is used as a lens not only to show the power of music, but how her refusal to hate brings goodness into the world, to Cindy Spiegel of Spiegel & Grau, in a pre-empt, for publication in early 2013, by Marly Rusoff of Marly Rusoff & Associates (World).

Linda Alice Dewey and James Campbell's THE KASSEL MISSION, a dramatic account of survival and unlikely friendships set during World War II, about an elite U.S. Air Force squadron (of which Dewey's father was a member), a secret bombing mission gone disastrously awry, and a daughter's present-day search for the truth, to Bruce Nichols at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, in a pre-empt, by David McCormick at McCormick & Williams Literary Agency (NA).

Wrap....