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Adult Trade News
September 2017
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Dear Friends,

In what has become a very busy fall season, we are pleased to share our newest deals, rave reviews and new client information for the adult division of Transatlantic. Some exciting highlights include Pauline Dakin's haunting memoir, RUN, HIDE, REPEAT, debuting at #1 on The Globe and Mail's nonfiction bestseller list in its first week of publication, and ALL WE LEAVE BEHIND, Carol Off's searing new nonfiction being shortlisted for the prestigious 2017 Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize. (See more, below). For those of you that have not yet seen our Fall 2017/Frankfurt Book Fair Catalogue find it here: Transatlanticagency.com/Frankfurt17.

As you may have heard, it is also a time of exciting internal change for Transatlantic. We congratulate our new President, Samantha Haywood, who has acquired a controlling interest in the company. The previous owner, David Bennett, will remain with the company as Chairman Emeritus, and the incomparable Lynn Bennett will remain as Treasurer to make the transition seamless.

We've also welcomed two amazing new agents to the group! Marilyn Biderman brings with her many of her wonderful clients from MBLM, the agency she has run for the last seven years. And Rob Firing joins us to launch a Transatlantic Speaker's Division. Firing was previously the head of communications and ran the Speakers Bureau at HarperCollins Canada. They mark an important expansion for the agency, and are lovely people, too!

Samantha Haywood will be attending the Frankfurt Book Fair next month. Her schedule is currently full, but feel free to stop by and say hello at 30N in the IRC whenever she is between appointments. And Amy Tompkins will be attending the Guadalajara Book Fair from November 27th - 29th. If you would like an appointment with Amy, please contact her directly at amy@transatlanticagency.com.

We look forward to being in touch with in the coming months. In the meantime, we send all best wishes for a robust and successful fall season!

With all best wishes,

Marilyn Biderman, Shaun Bradley, Sandra Bishop, Andrea Cascardi, Jesse Finkelstein, Rob Firing, Samantha Haywood, Fiona Kenshole, Stephanie Sinclair, Amy Tompkins and Trena White

 
New Deal Announcements 
 
CANADIAN AND NORTH AMERICAN DEALS 

Fiction:

U.S. rights for the 2017 Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour winner, YIDDISH FOR PIRATES by Gary Barwin, have been picked up by Random House Canada as an extension of the original contract. This bestselling title was also nominated for the prestigious 2016 Scotiabank Giller Prize and the Governor General's Award for Fiction.  Contact: shaun@transatlanticagency.com

North American rights to Shelley Wood's mesmerizing debut novel, QUINTLAND™ - a tour de force of imagination, taking readers inside the devastating true story of the Dionne Quintuplets through fiction steeped in research- this is a coming-of-age novel bound up in one of the strangest true tales of the past century, to executive editor Lucia Macro at William Morrow, on an exclusive, for Winter 2018. Contact: stephanie@transatlanticagency.com.

Ian Weir Canada English rights to award-winning screenwriter, producer and novelist, Ian Weir's THE DEATH AND LIFE OF STROTHER PURCELL sold to Bethany Gibson of Goose Lane Editions for Fall 2018 publication. A riveting frontier Western epic for fans of Ron Rash, Cormac McCarthy and the HBO hit series Deadwood, about the two cursed brothers, the shifting nature of truth, and the yearnings of that treacherous sonofabitch the human heart. Contact: samantha@transatlanticagency.com.

World rights ex. Canada to award-winning author Joanne Proulx's WE ALL LOVE THE BEAUTIFUL GIRLS to Executive Editor Millicent Bennett of Grand Central Publishing in a six-figure deal for publication in the U.S. in Fall 2018. Previously sold to Nicole Winstanley for Viking Penguin in Canada. WE ALL LOVE THE BEAUTIFUL GIRLS by Joanne Proulx is for readers of propulsive family dramas, calling to mind The Ice Storm and The Best Kind of People. Canadian audio rights to Laura Gachko at Audible. Contact: samantha@transatlanticagency.com.

World rights to Stephanie Morrill's YA historical WITHIN THESE LINES, again to Jillian Manning at Harper Collins/Blink for publication in the U.S. in Spring 2019. About a young woman whose Japanese American sweetheart is taken to a California concentration camp in the early days of WWII, and who uses every resource - including her family's mafia connection - to free him and his family. WITHIN THESE LINES is for readers (young and otherwise) who admire women unafraid to challenge the conventions of their day. Provisional film rights available. Contact: sandra@transatlanticagency.com.

Non-Fiction:

English language rights in North America to award-winning graphic novelist Scott Chantler's BIX, an experimental and mostly wordless black and white graphic biography highlighting the career of Leon Bix Beiderbecke, an early jazz cornet player, who rose rapidly to fame in the 1920s before falling just as quickly from grace due to a wretched dependence on alcohol, to Ed Schlesinger of Gallery 13, Simon & Schuster. Contact: samantha@transatlanticagency.com.


U.S. English rights to Jan Redford's debut, END OF THE ROPE: Mountains, Marriage and Motherhood sold to Megha Majumdar of Counterpoint, previously to Random House Canada for Spring 2018. In the tradition of Cheryl Strayed's Wild, the book is set it in Rockies and tells the story of a rash young climber that bounces from mountain to mountain and relationship to relationship, then loses the love of her life in a climbing accident, becomes pregnant with his friend's baby and struggles in a stormy marriage until she finally breaks free to pursue higher education and make her own way in life. Audio rights to Laura Gachko at Audible. Contact: samantha@transatlanticagency.com.

English world rights to YouTube star of The Domestic Geek fame Sara Lynn Cauchon's debut cookbook THE DOMESTIC GEEK'S MEAL'S MADE EASY sold to Justin Schwartz of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and subsequently to Andrea Magyar of Penguin Canada for joint publication in Spring 2019. The cookbook applies her fun, fresh, fuss-free approach to healthy cooking, designed to make a reader's life in the kitchen easier and more delicious, featuring recipes that are simple, accessible and suitable for beginning to intermediate cooks. Contact: samantha@transatlanticagency.com.

Kristen den Hartog World English rights to Kristen den Hartog and Tracy Kasaboski's new work, THE SWEETEST MUSIC sold to Anna Comfort-O'Keeffe at D&M. A sweeping, working-class family memoir, that begins with a young cowkeeper and his wife who arrive in 1840s London, England from Wales to escape poverty but instead plunge into it, then follows their descendants through 100 years to the big band era of the 1920s and 1930s in London, Ontario. Contact: samantha@transatlanticagency.com


North American English and Audio rights to Blackstone Publishing for Atz Kilcher's memoir SON OF A MIDNIGHT LAND, offering readers a realistic look at the emotional price this eldest of eight children paid for his father's dream to homestead in Alaska's remote wilderness, and reflecting on the survival skills and habits he took on because of this upbringing-some that served him well and others from which he later had free himself in order to become a better man and a good father to his own children. Known to many as the patriarch of Discovery Channel's Emmy-shortlisted program Alaska: The Last Frontier, Kilcher is also an artist, a writer, a musician, and the man who taught his daughter, Jewel, how to sing. His timely memoir releasing Spring, 2018 simultaneously with the audio  edition as read by the author, a natural oral storyteller. Represented by Sandra Bishop. Contact: sandra@transatlanticagency.com

Foreign Rights:

U.K./A.N.Z. rights to Michael Heyward at Text Publishing as well as German rights to Lübbe Verlag by Hannah Fosh of Liepman to Journey Prize winner Naben Ruthnum writing as Nathan Ripley's debut FIND YOU IN THE DARK. The novel is reminiscent of The Talented Mr. Ripley with elements of Red Dragon and the hit series Dexter, which follows the story of a family man whose obsessive need to right the past by digging up the undiscovered skeletal remains of serial killer victims is about to lead to a terrifyingly real encounter with a killer who is very much alive. North American rights previously sold in a two-book deal, at auction in a six-figure deal, to Rakesh Satyal of Atria and Laurie Grassi of Simon & Schuster Canada. Represented by Samantha Haywood and Stephanie Sinclair, contact: samantha@transatlanticagency.com.

Icelandic rights to Iain Reid's I'M THINKING OF ENDING THINGS, to Bjartur & Verold, marking its 17th rights sale. Rights previously to U.S. (Scout Press), Canada (Simon & Schuster Canada), U.K. & A.N.Z. (Text Publishing), The Netherlands (Prometheus), Brazil (Rocco), France (Presses de la Cite), Israel (HaKursa), Denmark (Lindhardt og Ringhof), Germany (Droemer), Turkey (Teas), Poland (Prosznski), Thailand (WeLearn), China (United Sky), Korea (Arumdri Media Publishing), Centrepolygraph Publishers (Russia), and Bjartur & Verold (Iceland). Contact: samantha@transatlanticagency.com.

U.K. Commonwealth ex. Canada rights to Giller Prize-longlisted author Elisabeth de Mariaffi's haunting new novel HYSTERIA , sold to Miranda Jewess of Titan Publishing. Rights previously to Iris Tupholme, Publisher of HarperCollins Canada for 2018. For fans of Hitchcock and readers of Sarah Waters, when a young German woman encounters a strange little girl in the woods, she begins to fear what lies beneath the shiny veneer of the 1950s upstate New York community where she lives with her young son and her husband, a controlling American psychiatrist, but when her son suddenly goes missing, she finds herself torn between the possibility that her husband is involved in the boy's disappearance and the dark suggestion that something otherworldly has taken him. Contact: samantha@transatlanticagency.com.

World French language rights to Amazon First Novel Award Finalist Rebecca Rosenblum's debut SO MUCH LOVE to Leméac Editeur Inc. Rights previously sold in Poland to PRÓSZYŃSKI and published in Canada by McClelland & Stewart. Pitched as a cross between Olive Kitteridge and Room, the novel is about the unexpected reverberations the abduction of a young woman has on a small community. Contact: samantha@transatlanticagency.com.

German rights to Daniel Griffin' s TWO ROADS HOME sold to Dirk Vaihiner of Nagel & Kimche of Hanser Verlag by Hannah Fosh of Liepman Agency. Canada English and U.S. rights previously sold to Freehand Books (Fall 2017). Pitched in the tradition of Snow Falling on Cedars , TWO ROADS HOME, a literary novel with eco-thriller overtones, reimagines the 1993 Clayoquot Sound protests when the fall-out from a bomb blast at a logging company warehouse ends in the unplanned death of a security guard. Contact: samantha@transatlanticagency.com .

German rights to Brunnen Verlag by Hannah Fosh of Liepman to multi-award winning and Romantic Times FIVE STAR TOP PICK historical romance THE LADY AND THE LIONHEART by Joanne Bischof, Carol Award winner and four-time Christy Award finalist. Worlds collide in this novel when a Gypsy circus comes to Victorian era Virginia and a charismatic nomad  convinces a skeptical young nurse to travel with the show to tend to a child, but then must reckon with his own fear of exposing his true self, and the dark reason for the tattoos beneath his collar. Originally published in North America by author's indie press Mason Jar Books. Contact: sandra@transatlanticagency.com.


Drawn & Quarterly Deals

Spanish rights sold to Tom Gauld's highly anticipated new book BAKING WITH KAFKA, Drawn & Quarterly North America, October 2017, a collection of 100 new comics to Ediciones Salamandra, French language rights previously sold to Editions Alto and 2024, Italian rights to Mondadori, and U.K. rights to Canongate.


French rights to Anders Nilsen's RAGE OF POSEIDON sold to Atrabile.

Turkish rights to Sarah Glidden's ROLLING BLACKOUTS sold to Sirtlan Kitap.

Brazilian rights sold to Companhia das Letras for THE ABOMINABLE MR. SEABROOK by Joe Ollman.

Awards and Citations 

Congratulations to Carol Off. Her new nonfiction work, ALL WE LEAVE BEHIND, has be shortlisted for the 2017 Hilary Weston Writers' Trust of Canada Prize.  This prestigious annual prize recognizes the best in Canadian non-fiction.  The winner will be revealed on November 14th, 2017.

Said the Prize jury, "All We Leave Behind follows the desperate family as they become caught up in the largest refugee crisis since the 1940s. With clear, page-turning prose, Off embarks on a rigorous and honest examination of her role in the family's fate, first as a journalist, but ultimately as a friend, when she crosses the line of dispassionate reportage and becomes deeply involved in their bid to reach Canada. The book is an insightful contemplation of journalism's mission, and its impact on the lives of the people who dare to speak out in the name of truth."


Congratulations to Sharon Bala, who has been shortlisted for the 2017 Journey Prize, for her story "Butter Tea at Starbucks" (first published in The New Quarterly)!

We're thrilled for Becky Blake who's story "Trust Exercise" has been announced the winner for the 2017 CBC Books Nonfiction Prize - congratulations, Becky!




Congratulations to Will Ferguson's THE SHOE ON THE ROOF being named an October Loan Stars top pick!

Congratulations to Plum Johnson's THEY LEFT US EVERYTHING continuously hitting the CBC Books, Toronto Star, and The Globe and Mail bestseller lists!








Congratulations to Zoe Whittall's THE BEST KIND OF PEOPLE hitting the Barnes & Noble top fiction list for September!

Congratulations to Pauline Dakin for debuting her memoir, RUN HIDE REPEAT at #1 on the Globe & Mail Canadian bestsellers list and #2 on its combined international list.








Congratulations again to Joanne Bischof whose much heralded historical romance novel, THE LADY AND THE LIONHEART (Mason Jar Books) just keeps finding recognition. While still at the ACFW gala in Grapevine, Texas where she was receiving a CAROL AWARD, she heard the news that she'd been shortlisted for a CHRISTY AWARD; winners will be announced in October in Nashville, Tennessee at a gala ceremony which will also celebrate the 50th anniversary of the award's namesake, the novel Christy by Catherine Marshall.

New Clients
 

LOVE IT OR LIST IT (Big Coat Media)




There are few reality TV shows that can claim the following and longevity of Love It or List It. The real estate-meets-renovation reality show, now in its tenth season, has become one of the most recognized television brands in North America with over 100 million dedicated viewers in the U.S. and 8 million in Canada. It is also broadcast in 140 countries world-wide. And now the best of the three conjoined shows - Love It or List It, Love it or List It: Vancouver and Love It or List It: Vacation Homes - will come to viewers in book form. Filled with behind-the-scenes tidbits for dedicated watchers, and brilliant, inspirational home renovation ideas for real estate dreamers, this is destined to become one of the most expansive and inspirational books in its class. World rights available. 

Represented by Shaun Bradley, shaun@transatlantic agency.com.

ALICIA ELLIOT

Alicia Elliott is a Tuscarora writer living in Brantford, Ontario with her husband and daughter. Her writing has been published by The Malahat Review, The Butter, Room, Grain, The New Quarterly, CBC, The Globe and Mail, Vice, Maclean's, Maisonneuve, Today's Parent and Reader's Digest. She's currently Associate Nonfiction Editor at Little Fiction | Big Truths, and a consulting editor with The New Quarterly. Her essay, "A Mind Spread Out on the Ground" won a National Magazine Award. She will be the 2017-2018 Geoffrey and Margaret Andrew Fellow at UBC, working with their Creative Writing Department. Alicia is currently at work on a collection of essays entitled A MIND SPREAD OUT ON THE GROUND, which explores the wider connections between colonialism, race, mental health, poverty, art and parenthood through the lens of her own personal experiences.

Represented by Samantha Haywood and Stephanie Sinclair, contact samantha@transatlanticagency.com.


WILL FERGUSON

Will Ferguson is the author of sixteen books. His most recent novel, 419, won the Scotiabank Giller Prize. He has won the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour a record-tying three times and has been nominated for both the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and a Commonwealth Writers' Prize. He lives in Calgary. Visit him at WillFerguson.ca.

Represented by Samantha Haywood, samantha@transatlanticagency.com.


S.J. JENNINGS

U.K. born author S.J. Jennings moved to Canada sixteen years ago. His inspiration is drawn from a love of history, politics and a successful international career in IT specializing in Business Intelligence, Analytics and Big Data. The Golkonda Project, his first novel, won the 2017 Unhanged Arthur Ellis Award for Best Unpublished Novel, awarded by Crime Writers of Canada. He is currently working on a sequel to The Golkonda Project as well as a thriller based on the philosophical impact of the coming Information Revolution. He lives in Toronto with his wife, Taliaferro Jones and their two daughters.

Represented by Amy Tompkins, amy@transatlanticagency.com.


RACHEL MATLOW

Rachel Matlow is an arts and culture journalist/audio producer at the CBC. She worked at Q/q for eight crazy years as well as Spark, Day 6, The Sunday Edition, The Doc Project and The Current. Her writing has appeared in The Globe and Mail, National Post, CBC.ca and The Believer. She recently won a 2016 Third Coast International Audio Festival award and a 2017 Gabriel Award for her audio documentary Dead Mom Talking. She is at work on her debut memoir, a true dark comedy (a traumedy!), about her eccentric mother's cancer journey called Dead Mom Walking, which is best described as a cross between Tig Notaro's dark comedy One Mississippi and Chris Kelly's devastatingly funny Other People, with a queer dose of Alison Bechdel and a Jewish dollop of Transparent. Proposal materials available shortly. 

Represented by Samantha Haywood, samantha@transatlanticagency.com.


RYAN MCMAHON

Ryan McMahon is an Anishinaabe comedian, writer, media maker & community activator originally from Treaty 3 territory (Couchiching First Nation). Ryan's comedic storytelling style is fast paced, loose & irreverent as he explores the good, the bad & the ugly between Indian Country & the mainstream. In 2012, McMahon became the 1st Native comedian to ever record a full mainstream comedy special with CBC TV ( Ryan McMahon - UnReserved). Later that year made his debut at the prestigious Just For Laughs Festival in Montreal, QC where he was named to the NEW FACES LIST at the festival. Ryan's latest full length CBC comedy special, Red Man Laughing, aired Nationally on CBC Radio 1 in 2015. McMahon's new live show, Wreck-On Silly Nation, is scheduled to tour across Canada in 2018. Ryan has written for the The Globe and Mail, VICE, CBC, CBC Indigenous, APTN among others. On the book side of things: Ryan's hotly anticipated debut work of fiction THE GREAT NDN PARADOX is forthcoming from Robin Egg's Books of Arsenal Pulp Press in October 2018. Plus he is writing his first book of nonfiction based on his popular column with VICE called Canada 2167 which peels back the layers on the last 150 years in Canada and explores the path to the next 150 years in Canada. Find out more about the VICE series at: Vice.com/what-i-think-canada-should-look-like-150-years-from-now. His new book, 2167: Future Reason For This Country will be available for submission in late 2017/early 2018.

Represented by Samantha Haywood and Stephanie Sinclair, contact samantha@transatlanticagency.com.


ZALIKA REID-BENTA

Zalika Reid-Benta is a born and bred Toronto writer, TV fanatic and cheeseburger enthusiast. In 2011 George Elliott Clarke recommended her as a "Writer to Watch". Her work has appeared on the CBC website, in the TOK 7 anthology and in Apogee Journal. She is an alum of the 2017 Banff Writer's Studio and received an MFA in fiction from Columbia University in 2014. Her work explores matters of intergenerational cycles, race, identity and culture through the lens of second-generation Caribbean Canadians. Her collection of linked short stories, Frying Plantain, is currently on offer and she is working on a fantasy YA novel. 

Represented by Amy Tompkins, amy@transatlanticagency.com

THE SALMON SISTERS

Emma Teal Laukitis and Claire Neaton, aka THE SALMON SISTERS spent their childhoods on one of the world's most unique and remote places - the Aleutian Islands of Alaska - when they weren't at sea on their family's commercial boats fishing for salmon and halibut in the Bering Sea.

These bold seafaring young women are two of the world's most natural advocates for the vitality of a fisherman's livelihood, and we are proud to represent them and their future writing and publishing endeavors.

They've been featured in Vogue, Outside Magazine, Glamour Magazine, Alaska Airline's inflight magazine Beyond, Roade's Organic Life, Men's Journal, on PBS News' Good Morning America, in a video series produced by Maersk Line, and Chris Kimball's new Milk Street podcast. They work with a communications firm (Rising Tide Communications) whose expertise has helped them make many connections in fish-marketing, restaurant, retail, and food industries, and are currently at work on a lifestyle book which will feature recipes, original drawings, and stories about their unique and wild lives on the edge of the Alaskan frontier.
Rave Reviews

ALL WE LEAVE BEHIND by Carol Off (World Rights Available Ex: Canada English, Random House Canada, published September 19, 2017; Film/TV rights available). Contact shaun@transatlanticagency.com:

Finalist, The 2017 Hilary Weston Writers' Trust of Canada Prize
Chatelaine: Best Fall Books 2017
Huffington Post: New Fall Books Of 2017 We Can't Wait To Dig Into
CBC Books: 20 Works of Nonfiction to Dig Into This Fall

Select author interviews:


Praise for THE BOAT PEOPLE by Sharon Bala (World Rights Available Ex: U.S., Doubleday; Canada, McClelland & Stewart). Contact stephanie@transatlanticagency.com:

" The Boat People is a powerful, gripping moral drama told with deep compassion and humanity. Sharon Bala takes us behind the headlines about refugees and asylum seekers straight into the beating hearts of unforgettable human beings. A timely tale and a beautiful, remarkable debut."  -Lynne Kutsukake, author of  THE TRANSLATION OF LOVE

"This wise and compassionate novel is an intimate portrait of one of the great humanitarian crises of our time. Its power lies in its breadth, for it examines not just those who come to our country seeking refuge, but also those who determine their fate. As such it implicates us all in the ongoing crisis."  -Shyam Selvadurai author of The Hungry Ghosts and Funny Boy

" The Boat People is a beautifully crafted story with a big heart. This novel has an urgency and relevance that cuts to the bone and will resonate with readers of all stripes. Bala offers no easy answers and no political posturing, but her magnificent storytelling will leave readers wondering about their own convictions, asking themselves, 'What would I do? What would I have done?' I love this book and, somehow, I empathized and understood every character's motivation and heart, despite their seemingly opposing stances. The spirits of Bala's complicated, well-developed characters will linger with you like ghosts; you will look for them in the newspaper, on the evening news, everywhere, and when you encounter them, you will pause and wonder, not only about them but about yourself."
-Michel Stone, author of Border Child

" The Boat People is a burning flare of a novel, at once incendiary and illuminating. With a rare combination of precision, empathy and insight, Sharon Bala has crafted an unflinching examination of what happens when the fundamental human need for safety collides with the cold calculus of bureaucracy. In the best tradition of fearless literature, it shatters our comfortable illusions about who we really are, reveals just how asymmetrical the privilege of belonging can be. This is a brilliant debut - a story that needs to be told, told beautifully."
-Omar El Akkad, author of American War


Praise for THE HONEY FARM by Harriet Alida Lye (World Rights Available Ex: U.S., WW Norton; Canada, Vagrant Press). Contact stephanie@transatlanticagency.com:

"I loved this book. The way Harriet Alida Lye captures and registers moments of encounter with gentleness and specificity, like bees bumping against flowers - there's magic afoot here." -Lauren Elkin, author of Flaneuse: Women Walk the City in Paris, New York, Tokyo, Venice, and London (A New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice)

"Mysterious, suspenseful, and unnerving, The Honey Farm offers a thrilling narrative that examines the distorted realities and conflicting perceptions that often exist in the quietest places."  -Iain Reid, bestselling author of  I'm Thinking of Ending Things , an NPR Best Book of the Year, 2016

" The Honey Farm  delves into the intimate mysteries of art, madness, religion, and love through a story built with beautiful language and lush sensory detail. Gothic and subtly menacing, it's a book as rich as the sweet substance at its core." -Grace O'Connell
"...a deliciously creepy read."  -Andrea gunraj

"The secret world of bees and the sensuous natural order in all its peril and glory come alive in this mesmerizing, suspenseful novel. Harriet Alida Lye is a writer of prodigious talent and The Honey Farm a thrilling, chills-inducing debut. Brava!"  -Carol Bruneau, award-winning author of Glass Voices and These Good Hands

"Beguiled by the promise of a writers' retreat, Sylvia leaves her staunchly Catholic family home for the uncertain territory of a honey farm in Northern Ontario. The Honey Farm offers readers an accomplished meditation on love, creativity and the wonder of the natural world, and a gripping exploration of a community that is perhaps not as it seems."
-Cathy Marie Buchanan, New York Times bestselling author of The Painted Girls


LOST IN SEPTEMBER by Kathleen Winter (World rights sold to Knopf Canada, published September 12, 2017, contact The Cooke Agency. Film/TV rights available, contact Shaun Bradley, Transatlantic). Contact shaun@transatlanticagency.com:

CBC's Fall Book Preview: 20 Works of Canadian Fiction We're Excited to Read
Chatelaine: Best Fall Books 2017
Huffington Post: New Fall Books Of 2017 We Can't Wait To Dig Into
Winnipeg Free Press: Sizzling Stories, Fall 2017
The Globe and Mail: Most Anticipated Books, 2017
Loan Stars: Canadian Librarians Best Picks

Select author interviews:
Pressreader.com/ottawa-citizen

"Winter's writing is undeniably elegant: undulating with recurring motifs of water and rivers, blindness and vision, a painterly attention to detail involving primary coloured figures that lend more elemental power to the prose. Lost in September coalesces into a touching portrait of a broken man, as well as a considerable addition to the literature of war, of trauma and recovery. It's energized by a deep compassion for our drive to heal and remember, even in the shadow of unimaginable bloodshed. As with many peculiar books, it's worth your time - evocative, humane and (maybe) totally original." -The Globe and Mail

"Kathleen Winter returns to the upper echelons of CanLit with her audacious new novel, Lost in September." 
-Toronto Star
 



THE ONLY CAFE by Linden MacIntyre (World Rights Available Ex: Canada and U.S., Random House Canada; Film/TV rights available). Contact  shaun@transatlanticagency.com

National bestseller: CBC Books and The Globe and Mail

Select author interviews: 

" The Only Café will transfix you with its disquieting and cautionary narrative...[J]udicious and expertly timed... The Only Café 's elegant prose attains a lyrical quality...[A] testament to MacIntyre's dexterity as a storyteller." -The Globe and Mail

"[S]pare, propulsive and rich in observational detail and dialogue...MacIntyre's journalism training and experience...allow him to explore Lebanon's labyrinthine, multi-factional civil war with authority and compassion."  -James Grainger, author of Harmless, Toronto Star

" The Only Café is imbued with a feeling of lived authenticity." -Quill and Quire


Praise for PENINSULA SINKING by David Huebert (World Rights Available Ex: World English, Biblioasis). Contact stephanie@transatlanticageny.com:

" Peninsula Sinking opens with a literary punch to the gut...and establishes Huebert as one of Canada's most impressive young writers." -Quill and Quire






RUN, HIDE, REPEAT by Pauline Dakin (World Rights Available Ex: Canada and U.S., Penguin Books Canada; Film/TV rights available). Contact shaun@transatlanticagency.com:

National Bestseller: The Globe and Mail (debuted at #1 on Canadian list, #2 on international list, # 2 on biography)
CBC Books (debuted at #3)

Select author interviews:
"This is a well-paced and engrossing memoir where Dakin's skills as long-time CBC health reporter uncover one final, startling revelation." -The Globe and Mail

"This twisted page-turner brings the truth to the forefront, while Dakin tries to master the art of forgiveness."  -Canadian Living

" Run, Hide, Repeat. The title grabs me by the throat. I knew my hard-working, calm friend was writing a memoir as part of her King's MFA in creative non-fiction, but I was not prepared for the hidden story of her life. Who could have imagined Pauline had spent decades on the run from the mob?" -Chronicle Herald

" Run, Hide, Repeat  is part crime thriller, part scientific analysis of delusional disorder ... a remarkable new memoir." -Edmonton Journal


Praise for THIS SIDE OF SAD by Karen Smythe (World Rights Available Ex: Canada, Goose Lane Editions). Contact stephanie@transatlanticagency.com:

"It's always wonderful to stumble upon what could be a sleeper, and leave it to Goose Lane to have one on offer. Karen Smythe's This Side of Sad is due in September and it's a stunner." This is one for your must-read list this Fall!  -Words Worth Books

"Smythe's prose is powerful...The author's choice of narrative perspective ensures that this book is likely to provoke lively debate." -Quill and Quire

"In this wry and visceral debut novel, Karen Smythe has found new and intriguing ways to tell a powerful story of longing, love, and what it means to be brave. Her characters show us how we are all repeatedly reconstituted by love and how, for better or worse, we must accept what we thought we couldn't and find a way to live with the different versions of ourselves as we navigate our own lives." -Diane Schoemperlen, author of This Is Not My Life

"This Side of Sad  is as intimate as a best friend's confession, as well wrought as a fine clay vessel, and as consoling as only a fine blues tune can be." -Antanas Sileika, author of The Barefoot Bingo Caller

"Sensitive and authentic, This Sad of Sad brims with introspection, wry humour, and Karen Smythe's signature literary grace. The story will remain rooted in your heart and mind." 
-Danila Botha, author of For All the Men (and Some of the Women) I've Known

"A courageous debut novel and one of the most searing explorations of love and grief you will ever read. This is writing that probes as deeply as fiction can the conflicting emotions that ensue upon devastating loss. This Side of Sad is a dramatically vivid work of fiction." 
-Ian Colford, author of Perfect World


Praise for MINING FOR JUSTICE by Kathleen Ernst (World Rights Available Ex. North America, Midnight Ink) Publication: Oct 8th 2017. Contact fiona@transatlanticagency.com:

"The eighth in the series contrasts the difficult life of Wisconsin's Cornish miners with the heroine's burgeoning romance, highlighting both her researching skills and her unusual feel for the past" -Kirkus Reviews

"Richly imagined and compelling, Mining for Justice once again highlights Kathleen Ernst's prowess as a storyteller...Ernst is a master of reconstructing the past." -Susanna Calkins, author of the Macavity-winning Lucy Campion Mysteries


Advance praise for Marissa Stapley's THINGS TO DO WHEN IT'S RAINING (World Rights Available Ex: Canada, Simon & Schuster; U.S., Graydon House, February 2018; Germany, Rowohlt, Spring 2018). Contact samantha@transatlanticagency.com:

"Regrets, secrets, and hidden longings swirl beneath the surface of this beautifully atmospheric story of love found, lost, and rediscovered. I couldn't stop reading." 
-Shelley Noble, NYT bestselling author of Whisper Beach and The Beach at Painter's Cove



Praise for Lori McNulty's LIFE ON MARS (World Rights Available Ex: English Canada, Goose Lane Editions, Spring 2017). Contact samantha@transatlanticagency.com:

"Sad and funny, delicate and ferocious, this is an intoxicating potpourri of marvelous stories that bears repeated readings to uncover every subtle nuance." -Publishers Weekly





Praise for Sarah Faber's ALL IS BEAUTY NOW (World Rights Available Ex: U.S., Little Brown, August 2017; Canada English, McClelland & Stewart, August 2017). Contact samantha@transatlanticagency.com:

"Notable for its lovely prose and melancholy empathy.... All Is Beauty Now  [is] a finely observed consideration of how mental illness impacts an entire family." -Kirkus

"This debut infuses the fierce familial love with the bitter ache of dreams lost and secrets kept. Faber's swirling, dreamlike prose paints a wildly beautiful Brazil. Readers will lose themselves in this delicately wrought, heartbreaking tale." -Publishers Weekly

"Richly realized and filled with tantalizing secrets, this novel offers a dramatic look at one family's struggle to survive." -Booklist

"[A] powerful family novel exploring the twin dangers of romanticism and nostalgia." 
-The Globe and Mail


Praise for Rebecca Rosenblum's SO MUCH LOVE (World Rights Available Ex: Canada English, McClelland & Stewart, Spring 2017; Poland, Prószyński; World French, Leméac Editeur Inc., September 2018). Contact samantha@transatlanticagency.com:

"The novel is a delicate exploration of the lasting repercussions of the cruelty humans inflict on one another." -Publishers Weekly





Praise for Zoe Whittall's THE BEST KIND OF PEOPLE (World rights sold to House of Anansi, World Ex: Canada, U.S. and UK. presently available). Contact samantha@transatlanticagency.com:

"A humane, cleareyed attempt to explore the ripple effects of sexual crime." -Kirkus Reviews

"Diversity of opinion on what might have happened and who is to blame will make for a thoughtful consideration and conversation, pegging this as a perfect book-club choice." 
-Booklist

"Gripped quickly by the attachment you feel for the characters, you are compelled to read on...Whittall has masterfully written characters that stay with you long after you've finished." -Gwendolyn Bortolotto, Galiano Island Books

"Whittal brings realism and humanity to the story." -Publishers Weekly


Praise for Kerry Clare's MITZI BYTES (World Rights Available Ex: Canada, HarperCollins, Spring 2017). Contact samantha@transatlanticagency.com:

" Mitzi Bytes may be a fun, adult-sized rendition of Harriet the Spy , but more than anything, the novel makes a statement that women are not only one thing." -Winnipeg Review
"...a book with a blogger as the protagonist released in 2017? How delightfully anachronistic. And yet, the story feels surprisingly current and relevant today." 
-Danielle Donder, Postcards from the Mothership

"a compelling look into the personal consequences of the digital age." -Canadian Living


Praise for Diane Schoemperlen's FIRST THINGS FIRST (World Rights Available Ex: World English, Biblioasis, June 2017). Contact samantha@transatlanticagency.com:

"The stories get better, more assured and more insightful, over the years. The final four are exceptional, highlighting the author's strengths and giving three-dimensional pictures of authentic characters and their worlds." -Winnipeg Free Press

"The pleasures of such a collection - spanning three decades - are that it provides a bounty of good reading while charting the growth of one of our most interesting and iconoclastic writers." -The Toronto Star


Praise for Nina Berkhout's THE MOSAIC (World rights sold to Groundwood Books, September 2017). Contact samantha@transatlanticagency.com and stephanie@transatlanticagency.com:

"A rich and jumbled mix of war and peace by an author to watch." -Kirkus Reviews

"A recommended selection for its appealing and thought-provoking plot." 
-School Library Journal

"Berkhout creates a cinematic feel with her evocative language and scene setting. The scope of the story's themes of love, honour, bravery, and forgiveness are reflected in the vastness of the blue sky over the town, and it's impossible not to envision the action as it unfolds." 
-Quill and Quire

" The Mosaic  is an engaging artful novel. Full of loving descriptions of American Prairie, and moving stories of soldiers living with the after effects of war, this book really makes you think. Realistic portrayal of human emotions and the painstaking process of creating art, both take center stage in this heartbreaking read. Avid readers will finish this book in a matter of days. Maybe one of the best books I've ever read." -McNally Robinson


Praise for Elisabeth de Mariaffi's HYSTERIA (World Rights Available Ex: Canada, HarperCollins, 2018; U.K., Titan Publishing Group). Contact samantha@transatlanticagency.com:

" Hysteria  begins with a young German girl emerging from the woods, fleeing the end of the second war, and ends a decade later on American soil in a perfect series of plot twists and turns...Elisabeth de Mariaffi has crafted an epic and haunting story that manages to be both rich in character and setting and breakneck in pace. You will find yourself thinking about it long after you've turned the last pages." -Amy Stuart, author of Still Mine

"Elisabeth de Mariaffi's novel Hysteria  is shout-out-from-the-rooftops good. It is unpredictable, laced with evil and mystery, and impossible to put down. A horrifying modern-day fairy tale, Hysteria is finely written, haunting in its construction, and compelling from the first page to the last." -Lawrence Hill, #1 National Bestselling author of The Illegal

" Hysteria  is a creepy, at times terrifying, thrill-ride, taut and smart, and totally unpredictable." -Zoe Whittall, Giller Prize finalist author of The Best Kind of People


Praise for Martha Baillie's IF CLARA (World Rights Available Ex: English and French Canada, Coach House Books, Fall 2017). Contact samantha@transatlanticagency.com:

"Baillie's mastery distinguishes each voice. Even the neat and sentimental conclusion offers solace as the characters' complexity resonates beyond the page...Baillie's novel will appeal to many and please the literary-minded too." -Quill & Quire, starred review

" If Clara  finds Baillie at the top of her game with this complex, deftly layered new novel, her sixth..." -Toronto Star


Praise for Daniel Griffin's TWO ROADS HOME (World Rights Available Ex: North America, Freehand Books, September 2017; Germany, Nagel & Kimche, Hanser Verlag). Contact samantha@transatlanticagency.com:

"Daniel Griffin's Two Roads Home is a blistering examination of modern-day radicalism, a society's collective guilt, and the possibility of redemption. As propulsive as a thriller, with characters so real they draw blood, this is a powerful novel that never lets up." 
-Steven Price, author of By Gaslight

"In this darkly beautiful tale, four idealists try to do 'something good, something important, something no one else seemed willing to stand up and do.' But it goes wrong and suddenly Pete Osborne is on the run, his mother Tab becomes a sleuth and we're off into a page-turner of a story. Daniel Griffin's compassionate eye follows his characters through the lush coastal forests, wilderness and waters of British Columbia, while he maps their emotional terrain keenly as a mind-reader. Two Roads Home  is an elegantly crafted, nuanced work that reveals how we stretch our bonds, and sometimes betray them, to belong, matter or survive." -Shauna Singh Baldwin, author of The Selector of Souls, The Tiger Claw and What the Body Remembers


Praise for WE ALL LOVE THE BEAUTIFUL GIRLS by Joanne Proulx (World Rights Available Ex: Canada English, Viking, August 2017; U.S., Grand Central Publishing, 2018; Canadian Audio rights, Audible, 2018). Contact samantha@transatlanticagency.com:

"Proulx excels with precisely that sort of subtlety and gradual revelation. As one reads We All Love the Beautiful Girls , impressions of the characters will shift and change, a verisimilitude that is the result of careful attention and unflinching honesty." -Toronto Star

"When I finished this novel, I wanted to tell everyone I knew to read it. It is one of the best, most important books I've read in a very long time." -The Globe and Mail


Praise for Katherine Ashenburg's SOFIE & CECILIA (World Rights Available Ex: Canada, Knopf, New Face of Fiction, Spring 2018). Contact samantha@transatlanticagency.com:

" Sofie & Cecilia  paints a marvelously detailed, slyly witty portrait of two women of talent married to successful painters in early 20th century Sweden-when girls might dabble in drawing lessons, but must put aside any artistic ambitions after marriage. Their growing independence is fueled by their friendship, sustained over the length of their lives, often through letters full of delicious innuendo. Fans of Elena Ferrante (not to mention Jane Austen and Virginia Woolf, whose books are a bonding point) will revel in this wise and intensely moving story of two women navigating a world that expected women to weave, knit and embroider in the shadow of the real artists, their husbands. Nevertheless, they persisted." -Marni Jackson, author of Don't I Know You?  

"Closely and beautifully observed, Sofie and Cecilia  is a revealing look at the early twentieth century world of Scandinavian arts, crafts, and culture. Ashenburg has as intimate a knowledge of the needlework on an embroidered sleeve, the pattern of a lace trimmed hem, and the warm tones of painted flesh, as she has of interpersonal relationships. As her readers, we experience both the affirmation of women's friendships, and the challenge of devoting oneself to a life of artistic creation in a society where the notion of gender equality has not yet fully come to consciousness." -Jane Urquhart, author of Away

"Against the luscious backdrop of the early twentieth-century Swedish art world, Sofie & Cecilia offers a fascinating, intimate look at the many variations of female love: maternal love, marital love, love of industry and craft, love of beauty. Most of all it is a celebration of the love that can exist between women friends. An intelligent, tender, highly pleasurable novel." -Barbara Gowdy

Praise for Book One, KISS ME SHERIFF, from RITA Award-winning Wendy Warren's THE MEN OF THUNDER RIDGE series; in anticipation of the third and final release (World Rights sold to Harlequin Special Edition). Contact sandra@transatlanticagency.com

"A deliciously tender tale." -Books and Spoons

"A fantastic...second-chance romance in Warren's series starter. Her authentic characters, potentially destructive years-old secrets, a delish New York deli in Oregon plus her genuine handling of the lingering emotions are great, but the cataclysmic father/teenaged son reunion and the excellent ending rock!" -4 stars @ RT Book Reviews

"The story was magical. The romance, heartbreakingly beautiful. I had tears streaming down my face more than once! And it's not just a romance. It's about learning to love in all forms. It's about taking chances. Chances on a kid nobody wants. Chances on a woman that can't trust. And chances on a man to not break what's left of your heart. 10 Stars for this lovingly-crafted story!" -Ever After Book Reviews

And for Book Two, HIS SURPRISE SON

"...emotionally charged...Poignant, wistful, and ardent story of love and life, about finding your one true soul mate, your home." -Books and Spoons








Praise for ONLY LOVE TODAY by Rachel Macy Stafford (World Rights sold to Harper Collins/Zondervan, published Spring 2017). Contact sandra@transatlanticagency.com:

"Stafford brings a voice that is both inspirational and authentic to a topic that can often take a lifetime to get the hang of." -Publishers Weekly

"While I read [ONLY LOVE TODAY], I felt it change me. Rachel's words seeped into my soul and planted a seed of love that has been growing and spreading to those around me. Only Love Today  - three small words with immense transformational power! Highly recommend." -Kaia Roman, author of The Joy Plan

"This isn't a book you read once and put down. It's a guide...you open again and again for reference, for guidance and for enlightenment. I have recommended this to many clients who struggle to stay in the present moment. You will find this book is a reminder to live our lives NOW. To embrace what is in front of us instead of future based thinking. So often we our brains like to wander to the 'what if'...Only Love Today reminds us to just be here...today...in this life, with these people. You won't regret this purchase, your life will change." -Kerry Foreman, Mindfulness Based Psychotherapist, Writer and Speaker

"Only Love Today ...reminds me that love, like everything else of value in my life - sobriety, parenting, faith, creativity - is a practice. A verb. And every day, every moment of every day, is an opportunity to love better. In recovery there's another saying, "you can start your day over at any time." That's what it feels like reading this book - even if you messed up, it's not too late. Even if you made a mistake, it's not too late. The author reminds us, reminds ME, that I can just keep showing up with a wide open heart, be present for the people in front of me, and forgive myself."  -Laura Parrott-Perry, In Others' Words 



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