Rebecca Saletan at Riverhead won North American rights, at auction, to two novels by Pilar Quintana (pictured l.) from Sandra Pareja at Massie McQuilkin & Altman: Blackest Night and the previously published The Bitch. Edd Kirke at Viking took U.K. rights. Blackest Night, per the publisher, is about “a woman stranded by her lover in their isolated, half-built home as the darkest night of the month draws close—and with only the ominous company of a few men of the village and the surrounding jungle, she begins to be haunted by shadows of her past.” Publication is planned for 2027.

Stephanie Koven at Blackstone, in the house’s first acquisition of a title in translation, secured world English rights to The Story of Marceau Miller by the pseudonymous Marceau Miller, translated from the French by Howard Curtis, from Marleen Seegers at 2 Seas Agency, for a March 2026 release. The book, the publisher said, is set near Lake Geneva, “where renowned writer Marceau Miller dies, leaving behind nothing but a manuscript—and his wife, Sarah, finds herself on a treasure hunt to uncover the secrets and confessions hidden within his last novel.”

Phoebe Mogharei at Belt secured world rights to The Spirit and the Dust by Andrew Wittkop from Jennifer Thompson at Nordlyset Agency. The book, the publisher said, is “a literary retelling of the 1837 meeting of two women of letters—Anna Brownell Jameson, an English writer, and Jane Johnston School-craft, an Ojibwe Irish poet and translator—on Mackinac Island in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.” Publication is slated for winter 2027.

Olivia Taylor Smith at S&S preempted world rights to Be Happy I Am Mad by poet and Nowhere Girl Collective founder Dakota Warren from Mia Vitale and Sarah Passick at Park, Fine & Brower, on behalf of Elise Middleton at YMU Group, for release in spring 2027. The sapphic love story, per the publisher, is “set over the course of a sweltering Australian summer in the 1960s, when aspiring
artist Lilith realizes she is in love with her best friend Mona, and explores how obsession and the extremes of first love can shape or destroy our lives.”

Laura Schreiber at Avon, in an exclusive submission, took world English rights to How the Story Goes by Andrew Forrester from Elizabeth Harding at Curtis Brown. In the debut romance novel, the publisher said, “a young widower of a famous children’s fantasy author teams up with a down-on-her-luck MFA dropout to write the final book in his late wife’s series... and they find their own perfect ending along the way.” Publication is set for next spring.

In Brief

  • Samantha Smith at Little, Brown netted North American rights, in an exclusive submission, to James Patterson and Vicky Ward’s untitled nonfiction book on the shooting of United-Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson from Robert Barnett at Williams & Connolly. Pub date TBD.

  • Judy Pray at Workman preempted world English rights to Life Drawing: Fifty Years of Mary Engelbreit by illustrator Mary Engelbreit, with Patrick Regan, from Sharon Pelletier at Dystel, Goderich & Bourret, for a fall 2027 release.

  • Nancy Ellwood at Arcadia picked up world rights to CNN anchor Bianna Golodryga and Channel 12 anchor Yonit Levi’s Don’t Feed the Lion, a middle grade novel that “confronts antisemitism and hate,” unagented, for a November release.

  • Jamia Wilson at Random House bought North American rights, at auction, to Peabody Award–winning “Gen Z historian” Kahlil Greene’s debut book, Hidden History, from Eve Attermann and Sian-Ashleigh Edwards at WME. Pub date TBD.

  • Sara Weiss at Ballantine won North American rights, at auction, to journalist and decision coach Nell McShane Wulfhart’s How to Decide in an Hour from Lauren Sharp at Aevitas. Pub date TBD.

Correction: A previous version of this article used the incorrect surname for the coauthor of Mary Engelbreit’s Life Drawing. It is Regan, not Ryan.