Frankfurt Book Fair 2017

EDWARDS FUGLEWICZ LITERARY AGENCY

Fiction

THE KING OF LAVENDER SQUARESusan Ryan

UK/Irish Publisher: Poolbeg PressPublication October 2017Extent: 80,000 wordsRights: World ex Ireland

Susan Ryan lives in Dublin and works as an advertising copywriter. The King of Lavender Square is her first novel.

What if one boy’s dream for a better life had the power to better the lives of others?

Lavender Square is in a Dublin suburb where the lavender grows in mysterious abundance, yet its residents move in detached lonely universes until a young boy with a missing father and a big dream brings them together. Suddenly the worlds of a teacher, a recluse, a lonely café waitress and an advertising whizz kid collide and they find themselves having to take care of Patrick Kimba, a young African-Irish boy, and worse again having to tolerate one another. Patrick is passionate about becoming a footballer and at first they indulge his ambitions until, quite by accident, his dream becomes theirs and a magical story of love, race, creed, culture and neighbourliness unfolds, but not without consequence. In the pursuit of a dream against all odds intolerance threatens to shatter once quiet lives in the lavender-scented square where life will never be the same again.

THE BLACK SILK PURSEMargaret Kaine

UK publisher Allison & BusbyPublications Spring 2018 HardbackExtent 270 ppRights Translation

Margaret Kaine began her writing career with the Poolbeg Press in Dublin, with a first novel called RING OF CLAY, for which she won the 2002 Romantic Novelists Association/Reader’s Digest New Writer’s Award and the Society of Authors Sagittarius Prize in 2003. Hodder & Stoughton bought the UK rights and Margaret wrote another four novels and one for Choc Lit, DANGEROUS DECISIONS, published in 2013.

Allison & Busby will be publishing Margaret for the first time in Spring 2018 and Hodder will be reissuing her entire backlist in B Format with new covers also in Spring 2018

Ella Hathaway has been incarcerated in the workhouse since the age of six, her only memory being of someone whispering, “Dearie, promise me you will never forget what you saw. Your Ma was killed deliberate.” Letitia Fairchild, a handsome young lady of twenty-seven, is made to visit Ella by her late father and pays scant attention to the thin young girl standing by a wall. After she witnesses Ella being beaten, she offers to take the girl as a scullery maid to her luxurious home, Eversleigh. Jilted seven years previously, Letitia discovers that her domineering father had told her suitor they could not marry as they were half brother and sister.

Sixteen-year-old Rory Adare is the only son of journalist Seamus Adare. They leave Ireland for London, Seamus fails to find work and they have no choice but to enter the workhouse where Seamus dies shortly afterwards.

Rory and Ella are released from their workhouses on the same day. Homeless and starving, Rory steals a wallet, but he returns it to the philanthropic Professor Dalton, who sees his potential and employs him. Rory then re- meets Ella on Hampstead Heath and they form a strong friendship before he has to leave for America with the Professor.

Ella is twelve when she goes to Eversleigh and is given her personal possessions in a grubby hessian bag containing a black silk purse, a journal written in French, inscribed Selina Maria Hathaway, a blue velvet box, a tiny key, a long envelope and a pencilled note signed Violet Rutter. Unable to read the journal and too nervous to break the seal, she puts the possessions aside and it is not until many years later that she shows them to Letitia who translates the journal and learns her tragic story.

Ella and Rory have been writing to each other regularly and when he returns they fall deeply in love. With Letitia’s help they find Violet Rutter and the dreadful secrets of Ella’s past come to light.

THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WALLAndrea Mara

UK/Irish Publisher Poolbeg PressPublication: Summer 2017Extent: 328 pagesRights: World ex IrelandAudio Tantor/USA

Andrea Mara is a freelance writer and blogger, who lives in Dublin with her husband and three young children. She writes lifestyle features for Irish newspapers, magazines, and websites, and has won multiple awards for blogging.

‘Domestic noir, with believable characters and a clever corkscrew plot’

- Irish Examiner

‘I read this in one sitting and thoroughly enjoyed it – the right side of chillingly good ‘

– Woman’s Way

Sylvia has just returned to work after maternity leave and one particular colleague is making life very difficult. In the middle of the night as she looks out of her bedroom window she thinks she sees a child face down in a her new neighbours’ pond. She races round but the pond is empty and no-one answers the door. Her husband thinks she’s sleep-deprived and the pressure of work is affecting her mind. A week later she believes she can hear a man crying next door.

Kate and Sam are the new neighbours having very big problems of their own. Kate takes the children to stay with her mum for a while, Sam’s cousin offers to move in and help him with some DIY and then Kate receives an anonymous letter that Sam is having an affair: her world comes crashing down.

One night Sylvia’s own little girl wakes screaming that there was a man in her room, then Sylvia wakes another time to find the tap running in the kitchen and things appear to have been moved. Is she going mad? Then a local child is reported missing and Sylvia remembers back to the ‘body’ in the pond.

Are all these strange happenings in her imagination or is there something very wrong on the other side of the wall?

THE LAST LOST GIRLMaria Hoey

UK/Irish Publisher: Poolbeg PressPublication: July 2017 Extent: 380 ppRights: World ex Ireland

Maria Hoey has been writing since she was eight years old. She has published poetry with Ireland’s foremost poetry publication, Poetry Ireland, and her poems and short stories have also appeared in various magazines. In 1999, she won first prize in the Swords Festival Short Story Competition. In 2010, her short story, Reading Brother Boniface was runner-up in the Mslexia International Short Story Competition and was also shortlisted for the Michael McLaverty Short Story Award. In 2015 her entry was short-listed from a total of

600 entries for the 2015 Irish Times Amateur Travel-Writer Competition.

On a perfect July evening in the hot Irish summer of 1976, fifteen-year-old newly crowned Festival Queen, Lilly Brennan disappears. Through the eyes of Lilly’s younger sister Jacqueline, The Last Lost Girl tells the story of the charged weeks leading up to Lilly’s disappearance, and the harrowing suspicion-filled months afterwards. Thirty-seven years later, as the anniversary of Lilly’s disappearance approaches once more, Jacqueline returns to her home in Blackberry Lane. When her father dies suddenly, Jacqueline discovers a clue which reopens the mystery and sets her on a journey of discovery and rediscovery. Jacqueline is determined to find the answer to what happened to Lilly all those years ago, but at what cost? Because, as she soon discovers, unravelling the past can be a dangerous and painful thing, particularly as the path to the truth steers Jacqueline ever closer to the dark secret at the very heart of her family.

THE TIDE BETWEEN USOlive Collins

UK/Irish Publisher: Poolbeg PressPublication: Sept 2017 Extent: 280 pagesRights: World ex Ireland

Olive Collins was born and educated in Thurles, Tipperary. After school Olive studied chemistry and worked as a lab tech for a few years. Having had a few careers, banking secretarial, marketing and advertising and after returning from living in Israel, Olive fell into a job in media. For the last 15 years she has worked in advertising in print media and radio.

Historical fiction (1821-1991) based in both Ireland and Jamaica, an island where 25% of the population claim Irish descent.

Part 1 (1821 – 1891) tells the story of Art O’Neill, who records his life in his final years. He begins with his boyhood in Ireland where he lives in the shadow of Lugdale Estate. After the local landlord is assassinated, Art’s innocent father is hanged and Art is deported to the cane fields of Jamaica as an “indentured servant” on Mangrove Plantation. Gradually he acclimatises to the strange exotic country and bizarre customs of the African slaves. He assumes his days of English tyranny are over until the arrival of the new heirs to Mangrove Plantation. His new owner is Colonel Stratford-Rice from Lugdale Estate, the man who hanged Art’s father. Art must overcome his hatred to survive. He takes us through the decades of his life, the harsh life of a slave, fatherhood and the eventual emancipation which liberated his coloured children. His greatest battle is fought quietly as he struggles with his abhorrence at his Anglo-Jamaica oppressors. Eventually Art is promised seven gold coins when he finishes his service. Art doubts the plantation owner will pay up.

Part 2 is based in Ireland (1991). It opens with the discovery of a skeleton beneath a tree on the grounds of Lugdale Estate with a gold coin minted in 1870. Yseult, the owner of Ludgale Estate, watches as events unfold, fearful of what may emerge about her family’s past and its links to the slave trade. As the body gives up its secrets, Yseult realises she too can no longer hide.

THEY ALL FALL DOWNCat Hogan

UK/Irish Publisher: Poolbeg PressPublication: Spring 2017 Extent: 240 pagesRights: World ex Ireland

Cat has worked for many years in the hospitality industry training hotel management. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Galway Mayo Institute of Technology as well as an honours degree in law from Carlow Institute of Technology.

Hogan is a thrilling new voice in Irish fiction- the genre’s next shooting star. A stunning debut - Eoin Colfer (Artemis Fowl author)

A confident debut from a striking new Irish author – Sunday Independent

A full on, multi-plotted, page turning thriller – Irish Examiner

Jen Harper likes to play it safe. She is settling into life on the outskirts of a sleepy fishing village with her little boy, Danny. Life by the sea – just how she wanted it.

When she meets Andy, she feels the time has come to put her emotional baggage and the scars of the past behind her. Then she is introduced to Scott, Andy’s best friend. Scott had previously introduced Andy to his first wife who then died in a terrible accident. He is charming to everyone except Jen and doesn’t like her getting together with his best friend. Jen is very uncomfortable in his presence and considers him a complete control freak where Andy is concerned. She also believes that Scott is a drug dealer who is getting his friend Doc hooked on drugs and has encouraged him to have an affair. When Andy is away, Scott turns up at Jen’s house, starts asking personal questions about her relationship with Andy and then wants to talk about how amazing Andy’s first wife Sharon was. He tells Jen that he was the one who actually found Sharon’s body on the beach, but not before he makes an unwelcome pass at her, and then says he was joking and if she mentions any of it to Andy she will be very sorry.

Some days later Jen arrives home with her son and her dog to find Scott in her house. Terrified, she tries to keep calm but is desperate to escape. Scott admits he's been smuggling drugs in on Andy's boat and also that he did get rid of Sharon. He wants Jen to give Andy up. Knowing she has to get out, at her first chance she hits Scott with a wine bottle and screams at her son to run and they both flee, but he's catching up with them . By this time Andy is back and finally realises that Jen and Danny are in danger. He rushes home only to find his knife is missing! Danny manages to run home and find Andy to tell him his mum is being attacked by Scott on the beach…

THERE WAS A CROOKED MANCat Hogan

UK/Irish Publisher: Poolbeg PressPublication: Sept 2017 PaperbackExtent: 280 ppRights: World ex Ireland

Cat Hogan has worked for many years in the hospitality industry training hotel management. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Galway Mayo Institute of Technology as well as an honours degree in law from Carlow Institute of Technology. She lives in Wexford.

Less than two years after the attack, Scott has resurfaced in Marrakesh. Through his boss in Spain, he is a key player in a drug smuggling and human trafficking network.

The novel opens with Scott killing the sister of a drug dealer from the medina and disposes of her body. He begins to unravel when an associate is killed and a consignment of drugs goes missing. His friend, Fran, double-crosses him and escapes back to Ireland. Scott’s boss in Spain is not happy; the rival dealer wants him dead and he has no choice but to return to Ireland for revenge.

Scott’s mother then reveals that the ‘boss’ in Spain is actually her brother and all hell is let loose.

Hogan is a thrilling new voice in Irish fiction- the genre’s next shooting star. A stunning debut - Eoin Colfer (author of the Artemis Fowl crime series)

Lost Mars: The Golden Age of the Red Planet is the first volume in the NEW British Library Science Fiction Classics series.Publication February 2018

‘I was suddenly struck with the sight of a trail of rich red vegetation of several miles in the midst of the eternal snows. I approached with curiosity this oasis in the frozen desert.’

An antique shop owner gets a glimpse of the red planet through an intriguing artefact. A Martian’s wife contemplates the possibility of life on Earth. A resident of Venus describes his travels across the two alien planets.

From an arid desert to an advanced society far superior to that of Earth, portrayals of Mars have differed radically in their attempt to uncover the truth about our neighbouring planet. Since the 1880s, writers of science fiction have delighted in speculating on what life on Mars might look like and what might happen should we make contact with the planet’s inhabitants.

These ten short stories from the golden age of science fiction feature classic SF writers including H.G. Wells, Ray Bradbury and J.G. Ballard, as well as lesser-known writers from the genre. They reveal much about how we understand our place in the universe.

Lost Mars: The Golden Age of the Red Planet is the first volume in the British Library Science Fiction Classics series.

Mike Ashley is the author and editor of more than sixty books, and is one of the foremost historians of popular fiction. His books include Adventures in The Strand (British Library, 2016), Out of This World, a brief illustrated

history of science fiction (British Library, 2011), and The Age of Storytellers: British Popular Fiction Magazines 1880-1950 (British Library, 2005). Most recently he is the author of a multi-volume history of science fiction.magazines, published by Liverpool University Press.

Paperback Extent: 224 pages, Size: 190 x 130 mm

MoonriseThe Golden Age of Lunar Exploration

Edited and Introduced by Mike Ashley

Publication April 2018

Includes stories by Arthur C. Clarke, Judith Merril and John Wyndham

Before the Apollo 11 mission succeeded in landing on the Moon in 1969, writers and visionaries were fascinated by how we might get there and what we might find. The Greeks and Romans speculated about the Moon almost two thousand years before H.G. Wells or Jules Verne wrote about it, but interest peaked from the late 1800s when the prospect of lunar travel became more viable.

This anthology presents twelve short stories from the most popular magazines of the golden age of SF – including The Strand Magazine, Astounding Science Fiction and Amazing Stories – and features classic SF writers as well as lesser-known writers for dedicated fans of the genre to discover.

Moonrise: The Golden Age of Lunar Exploration is the second volume in the British Library Science Fiction Classics series.

Mike Ashley is the author and editor of more than sixty books, and is one of the foremost historians of popular fiction. His books include Adventures in The Strand (British Library, 2016), Out of This World, a brief illustrated history of science fiction (British Library, 2011), and The Age of Storytellers: British Popular Fiction Magazines 1880-1950 (British Library, 2005). Most recently he is the author of a multi-volume history of science fiction magazines, published by Liverpool University Press.

Paperback Extent: 224 pages, Size: 190 x 130 mm

BEGOTTEN NOT MADEConal Creedon

Conal Creedon lives in Cork, Ireland and is also a playwright. His first Novel, PASSION PLAY, was reviewed in The Times Literary Supplement “ The novel’s interior is much indebted to Joyce. The way Creedon combines the child-centred perspective of Paddy Clarke Ha! Ha! Ha! with the tough teenage world of The Commitments and the domestic cruelty of The Woman who walked into Doors is ambitious and effective. His exposition of his characters’ thought processes owes much to Flann O’Brien’s skewed sophistication and Patrick McCabe’s scabrous vision as to an earlier prototype of Sean Casey’s Joxer, Creedon has found a form all of his own.”

UK Publisher On submissionMaterial available ManuscriptExtent 85,000 wordsRights World

BEGOTTEN NOT MADE is a modern-day fairy tale set on Christmas Eve. It explores a very real, yet unrealised love story that spans almost half a century, between a young religious brother (Brother Scully) and a novice nun (Sister Claire). The first time they met, it was back in 1970 on the night Dana won the Eurovision Song Contest and ever since that fateful first encounter their mutual undying devotion has only been communicated in secret - through coded messages of love sent each and every morning just before dawn - by flickering a light from their respective bedroom windows, across the valley from convent to monastery and back.

At the core of this unconventional love story is a challenging theory regarding the “true” paternity of Jesus Christ. This ingenious theory is uncovered by young Brother Scully but, concerned that his explosive findings might be considered blasphemous, he decides not to tell a soul, but in a moment of youthful bravado he blurts out his theory in an attempt to impress the pretty young Sister Claire. The resulting scandal causes uproar in both the monastery and the convent. The resulting fall-out has a traumatic and irreversible impact on Brother Scully’s life and his mental wellbeing. And so all expressions of his love for Sister Claire and all hopes for a happy-ever-after-ending are suppressed and concealed – and so began the daily exchange of flickering lights from convent to monastery and back again, each bolt of light now transmitting a secret vow of undying love.

Half a century has passed and Brother Scully is now an elderly man. But this Christmas Eve, for the first time in almost fifty years, no light shines out from Sister Claire’s bedroom and concern turns to worry. As dusk falls, Brother

Scully can bear it no more so he sets off to find out what has happened….

US&THEMBahiyyih Nakhajavani

Publisher: Redwood Press/SUPPublication: April 2017 hardbackExtent: 264 pagesSold to: USA –SUP Redwood

Actes Sud - France

“Us&Them is a nuanced reflection of the Iranian character: its largesse, its rich absurdity and genuine warmth, but also its complexity, its contradictions and internal conflicts. I found it challenging, funny, moving, and I’m now fretting: am I one of ‘us’ or ‘them’? Omid Djalili

Kirkus – The Woman Who Read Too Much

“Nakhajavani deftly transforms an incomplete history into legend”

“An ambitious effort produces an expertly crafted epic”

US&THEM is the subtly written contemporary story of Bibi, an old woman, and her two daughters: Lili living in Paris and Goli in California. Bibi and her family are part of the Iranian diaspora, implacably opposed to the regime they have left behind and determined to build a new life away from their still beloved country. Lili and Goli have been begging their mother to come and spend time with them and, finally, at the beginning of the novel, Bibi agrees to leave Iran to attend a special family gathering in America. What Bibi is secretly hoping for, however, is that her third child, a son, will be there as he has been “missing presumed dead” since joining the Iranian army, but she refuses to believe that that is the whole story. Lili and Goli are sisters but have very different views about how their mother should live out her old age. Bahiyyih Nakhavani uses humour and irony to tell an emotional story and to give us vivid glimpses of what it is like to live away from your country of origin whilst trying to maintain the links with your past. A story for our times.

“Sensitive, subtle, evocative. Bahiyyih Nakhjavani weaves threads of silk with her words. It is a rare author who can write with such clarity of vision and compassion of heart, and leave us readers in awe of her wisdom at the end.” Elif Shafak

A glitteringly poignant novel. Beautifully cadenced, drily acute Us&Them addresses one of the central topics of our time.” Ruth Padel

CHILDREN’SBOOKS

WHAT IS RED?Suzanne GottliebIllustrated by Vladimir Bobri

UK Publisher: The Bodleian LibraryPublication: Spring 20176Extent: 24 pages 247 x 200mmRights: World ex USASold : Spain

Little Johnny ponders the meaning of colours as he explores the landscape. He dips his toes in a blue brook, picks purple flowers, digs brown earth and finds an enormous orange pumpkin. Finally yellow sunlight and the black night show him when it is time to get up and when it is time to go to sleep.

The vibrant primary colours of Vladimir Bobri’s illustrations, together with a simple narrative, which follows the natural rhythm of the seasons, make this a stunning and enduring colours book for young children

THE MARCH WINDInez RiceIllustrated by Vladimir Bobri

UK Publisher: The Bodleian LibraryPublication: March 2017 HardbackExtent: 32 pages, 247 x 200mmRights: World ex USASold: Spain

One windy day a little boy happens upon a large black hat, lying in the street. When he tries it on, he becomes a whole host of different characters he’s always wanted to be: a soldier marching through the puddles, a cowboy galloping on his steed, a bandit fleeting in the night, or a ringleader at a circus. But when the owner comes to claim his hat the little boy finds the March Wind before him. Is this part of his imagination too?

Vladimir Bobri’s timeless illustrations bring to life a magical childhood world in a captivating story about make-believe and the transformative power of the elements

PENGUIN’S WAYJoanna JohnstonIllustrated by Leonard Weisgard

WHALE’S WAYJoanna JohnstonIllustrated by Leonard Weisgard

UK Publisher: The Bodleian LibraryAlready published: HardbackExtent: 48 pages 262 x 199mmPictures: 23 colour paintingsSold: Japan

Joanna Johnston was a renowned children’s author based in the USA

Leonard Wisegard was an award winning illustrator who published over 200 children’s books

This is a delightful story of the emperor penguins that live far away on the edge of a secret sea, told in narrative form with beautiful and timeless illustrations.

The humpback whales journey through polar seas. Will they escape the hunters and guide baby whale to safety? Telling the story of the life cycle of the whale in a simple narrative, this is a beautifully illustrated book with timeless appeal

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What Can Cats Do?

Abner GraboffMarch 2018

HardbackExtent: 40 pagesPictures: Fully illustrated, in colourWord count: 187Size: 247 x 200mmUK Publisher: The Bodleian Library

Abner Graboff was a prolific graphic designer and children’s book illustrator, active from the 1950s to the 1970s. His three sons helped him to research this book by studying their cat, Tarzan

Playful and bold illustrations complement the simple text, inspired by a much-loved family feline

Told from the point of view of a young child

There are many things cats can do which children can’t, such as lap up milk, and use their tongues as combs. There re also a number of things that cats can’t do, like sing children to sleep, or get down from trees…..

Abner Graboff combines the voice of childhood innocence with a wonderful sense of fun in his quirky book about the mysteries of cats and their secret lives, told from the point of view of a young child. Playful and bold illustrations complement the simple text, inspired by a much-loved family feline

There Was An Old LadyAbner Graboff

March 2018

HardbackExtent: 48 pagesPictures: Fully illustrated, in colourWord Count:Size: 247 x 200mmUK publisher: The Bodleian Library

Abner Graboff was a prolific graphic designer and children’s book illustrator, active from the 1950s to the 1970s.

ENDS

ENDS

Its galloping rhythm is perfect for reading out loud

Bright and startling illustrations bring this tale to life

One day an old lady swallows a fly and the only way she can get rid of it is to swallow a wriggling, tickling spider……

For over a century this subversive rhyme has delighted children and parents alike. Its galloping rhythm is perfect for reading out loud, becoming a memory game as the list of animals – bird, cat, dog, goat – grows. Graboff’s bright and startling illustrations combine beautifully with the traditional verse to bring this classic tale to life.