Deals

Cassandra King, married to bestselling novelist Pat Conroy (who has his own new book out next month; see p. 41) has signed with her publisher Hyperion for a second book, after her first, THE SUNDAY WIFE, scored five printings to reach 100,000 copies in print. Her editor, Leslie Wells, signed the new one, to be called THE SAME SWEET GIRLS, on the basis of a description over lunch. It’s about a group of women approaching their 50s who meet annually at a beach house in Alabama, and focuses on the 30-year stories of three of them. Wells bought world English, serial and audio from agent Marly Rusoff and plans to publish in summer 2004. Meanwhile, King is off on a big book tour for her first book and will share the spotlight with Conroy at a number of stops on his own tour.
Publishers Weekly, News > Hot Deals by John F. Baker — 9/30/2002 

Penguin publisher Kathryn Court bought a first novel set in the unfamiliar territory of northern Wisconsin, called THE TURTLE WARRIOR by local author Mary Relindes Ellis. It’s a family tale about death and survival, which in-house readers have compared to the work of Jim Harrison and Louise Erdrich. Court bought world rights, plus first serial and audio, from agent Marly Rusoff for publication early in 2004

Tom McNulty’s CLEAN LIKE A MAN, said to be the first housecleaning handbook written exclusively for men (and expected to have strong gift appeal), to Chris Pavone at Clarkson Potter, in a nice deal, by Marly Rusoff and Kathy Mack of The Rusoff Agency (world).

Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Weill-Cornell School of Medicine, psychoanalyst, and regular contributor to the Today Show Gail Saltz, MD’s BECOMING REAL: How Embracing Painful Emotions Can Transform Your Life, about the benefits that come to those who choose to fully confront life’s difficulties and use all of their emotions wisely, along with revealing “the secret strength of anxiety, depression, anger, along with the other emotions that help make our lives richer and more meaningful,” to Amy Hertz at Riverhead, in a good deal, by Marly Rusoff (world).

…Agent Marly Rusoff sold a book called STALKING THE DIVINE  by journalist and short story writer Kristin Ohlson to Leigh Haber at Hyperion; it’s the story of a skeptic whose encounter with a group of nuns in Cleveland, Ohio, brings her back to the possibilities of faith; the sale was for world rights.

Kristin Ohlson’s memoir STALKING THE DIVINE, based on her three-year relationship with a group of aging, cloistered, contemplative Poor Clare of Perpetual Adoration nuns who live in a forgotten monastery in downtown Cleveland, magnificent in spirit but dwindling in number, and the personal journey in which getting to know the nuns and study their collective history helped open herself “to the possibility of the sacred,” to Leigh Haber at Hyperion, in a good deal, by Marly Rusoff (world).

A first novel by an author who has written and published many short stories (including one in The Best American Short Stories series) was sold as part of a two-book six-figure deal to Janet Silver and Heidi Pitlor at Houghton Mifflin. It is THE WASP EATER by William Lychack, the story of a 10-year-old boy’s efforts to reunite his estranged parents and find out more about a father he never really knew, praised by author Charles Baxter as “one of the best narratives I have ever read about those who are unforgiven.” North American rights in the novel and a book of short stories were sold by agent Marly Rusoff; foreign rights are being negotiated by Lisa Queen at IMG.

William Lychack’s first novel THE WASP EATER, in which a ten-year-old boy attempts to reunite his estranged parents (praised by writer Charles Baxter as “one of the best narratives I have ever read about those who are unforgiven, and the effect of this refusal on a child, the eyes and ears of the family”), to Janet Silver and Heidi Pitlor at Houghton Mifflin, in a two book deal that includes a collection of stories, for six figures, by Marly Rusoff (NA).
Translation rights: Lisa Queen at IMG, German rights: Jacqueline Le Donna.

Twenty-eight year old Harvard Divinity School graduate Kerry Egan‘s memoir FUMBLING, focusing on her walking journey from France through northern Spain on the four hundred mile medieval Catholic pilgrimage, the route of the Camino de Santiago, a year after her father died, in which she “found faith in the face of grief” and “learned to grieve and to pray, to recognize God in all things, in the simple acts of walking, remembering, even breathing,” to Eric Major at Doubleday, in a good deal, by Marly Rusoff (NA)

Alais Capet, once in line for the throne, is a middle-aged spinster, an aging Princess of France who lives in Paris at the mercy of her brother and his court. Her youthful betrothal to Richard the Lionheart, King of England, was never consummated and Alais blames her stepmother, Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine. A masterful blend of history and imagination, the often-mysterious events in this novel are based upon a situation that was hinted at in the chronicles of the time, but never elaborated upon or proved. Sold by Marly Rusoff to William Morrow (World Rights) publication early 2004.
(Wm. Morrow will publish this novel under the title: The Canterbury Papers)