Press & Media
PW Review Leads to Multimillion-Dollar Deal
By Matthew Thornton -- Publishers Weekly, 10/22/2007 7:30:00 AM
Brunonia Barry, whose independently published debut novel, The Lace Reader, received a starred PW review in early August, now has a seven-figure world English rights deal with William Morrow for that book and a second. Laurie Chittenden beat out several other houses, reportedly including Grand Central and Hyperion, after agent Rebecca Oliver at Endeavor turned down a seven-figure preemptive offer that kicked off an auction. Oliver just accepted a substantial preempt in Italy and has auctions coming up in six more territories; Harper will publish in the U.K.
The Lace Reader centers on a young woman descended from a long line of mind readers and fortune tellers who can read the future in patterns of lace. Her return to her hometown of Salem, Mass., to recover from a series of traumas is tragically interrupted by the death of a beloved great-aunt. Circumstances suggest foul play, but the woman’s suspicions aren’t taken seriously given her history of hallucinations and self-harm. Each chapter begins with an excerpt from a fictional book, The Lace Reader’s Guide, written by a character in the novel, that offers insight into what lies ahead for the reader.
Barry is a Massachusetts native who has recently returned there after nearly a decade as a screenwriter in Hollywood. This is the first major book deal for Endeavor’s new literary arm, and Chittenden has had some success with independently published debuts before—most recently, the #1 New York Times bestseller The Christmas Box. Pub date for Morrow in the U.S. and Harper in the U.K. is fall 2008.
Read the Wm Morrow Press Release by clicking here
To download a high-res version of The Lace Reader cover, click here.
To download a PDF of The Lace Reader press release, click here.
To download a PDF of Brunonia Barry's biography, click here.
To download a PDF of a synopsis of The Lace Reader, click here.
To contact us: click here
For more information, contact:
Debbie Stier
Harper Collins
212-207-7788
Email Debbie
www.HarperCollins.com
