News

Highlights of the year so far:

* Sîan Hughes’ debut literary novel Pearl has been sold to The Indigo Press. Pearl is a contemporary story about love and loss, the first of an intended trilogy based on the medieval poems about Sir Gawain and the GreenKnight.

* Icon Books has bought Damn This War by Julie Hankey, who found a cache of wartime letters exchanged by her parents which she has woven into a narrative revealing surprising twists to familiar events.

* Under the Skin, the ingenious and compelling new thriller by Stephen Williams, has been snapped up by Joffe Books and will be published this summer.

* Cora Harrison has signed a new two-book contract with the Severn House imprint of Canongate Books. More treats in store for the many fans of her murder mysteries on both sides of the Atlantic.

* Against strong competition, Pulse Films has taken the option to adapt Moses McKenzie’s literary novel, An Olive Grove in Ends, for tv. And Granta Magazine’s latest issue features the first 3 chapters of this much-anticipated debut, which will be published by Wildfire in the UK (April) and by Little, Brown in the US (May).

Recent foreign translation sales include:

* Taiwanese deal for Lindsey Miller’s North Korea: Like Nowhere Else.

* Translation rights in Bulgaria and Uzbekistan for Vikas Swarup’s best-selling Q&A.

* Macedonian rights in Sharon Bolton’s standalone thriller Daisy in Chains.

* Hebrew rights in several of Georgette Heyer’s classic Regency romances.