2 Seas Agency 2014 LBF Hot List

HOT LIST LONDON BOOK FAIR 2014 Cell phone used in London: +31613716434 Marleen Seegers & Derek Dodds Assisted by: Brita Lundberg [email protected] www.2seasagency.com | www.catalog.2seasagency.com www.facebook.com/2seasagency | www.twitter.com/2seasagency 1129 Maricopa Highway, Suite 175 Ojai, California 93023 USA
Table of Contents 2 Seas Agency – London Book Fair 2014 Recent Rights Deals Clients & Co-‐Agents 4 5 Hertling, William: Avogadro Corp Johnson, Toni Ann: Remedy for a Broken Angel Maio, Juliana: City of the Sun Abécassis, Agnès: Adventures of a Young Divorcee Appers, Alexandra: One Death Too Many Brasseur, Diane: Fidelities Dambre, Roxane: Animae de Rosnay, Natacha: Odessa’s Promise Deghelt, Frédérique: Nina’s Journey Dokmak, Boris: The Three Billion Dollar Woman Hayat, Philippe: Momo of Les Halles Houssin, Joël: Dobermann Houssin, Joël: Loco Lafani, Florian & Renault, Gautier: Trouble[s] Lemaître, Pierre: Rosy & John Obertone, Laurent: Utøya Sattouf, Riad: The Arab of the Future Tabachnik, Michaël: The Savage Man Vautrin, Jean: Gypsy Blues Boogers, Alex: All Things Are Beautiful Peeters, Elvis: Us van Stralen, Auke: Tankstelle 6 6 6 7 7 7 8 8 8 9 9 9 10 10 10 11 11 11 12 12 13 13 FICTION REPRESENTED WORLDWIDE NON-‐FICTION REPRESENTED WORLDWIDE Chirovici, Eugen O.: Gods, Weapons and Money Obama Ndesandjo, Mark: An Obama’s Journey Rao, Srinivas: The Art of Being Unmistakable Singer, Tanja & Ricard, Matthieu (eds.): Caring Economics. A Conversation Between the Dalai Lama, Economists, Social Entrepreneurs and Business Leaders Tougias, Michael and Harris, Buck: Derek’s Gift Barillé, Elizabeth: Anaïs Nin: Naked Under the Mask Bourgoin, Stéphane: 999 Years of Serial Killers de Ayala, Roselyn: The Historical Dictionary of Paris Dufumier, Marc: 50 Preconceived Ideas on Agriculture and Food Kader, Slimane: With a View Below the Sea Lacroix, Alexandre: WWW. A Political Theory of the Internet Mendès, Ludo: Cuba No. The Forgotten Speak Out Mention, Michaël: Son of Sam Obertone, Laurent: Clockwork Orange France Pourriol, Ollivier: Philosophy in an Armchair Ricard, Matthieu: A Plea for Animals Neuvel, Koos: Alzheimer’s Disease. A Biography Simon, Coen: Waiting for Happiness. A Philosophy of Desire 14 14 14 15 15 15 16 16 16 17 17 17 18 18 18 19 19 19 2 Table of Contents 2 Seas Agency – London Book Fair 2014 FICTION REPRESENTED IN SELECTED TERRITORIES Cahill, Matt: Someone Else and You Gilmour, David: Extraordinary Kaufman, Andrew: Born Weird Valpy, Fiona: The French for Love Vandermerwe, Meg: Zebra Crossing Vellekoop, Maurice: My Three Parents Wuitchik, Michael: My Heart is Not My Own Lazo, Orlando Luis Pardo: Cuba in Splinters Bourbonnais, Claudine: Metis Beach Debeurme, Ludovic: Ocean Park Didierlaurent, Jean-‐Paul: The Reader of the 6:27 Kattan, Emmanuel: The Queen’s Portrait Lapertot, Céline: What My Silence Wrote Leroux, Catherine: The Wall Between Us Sylvain, Dominique: Darkness and Light Tremblay, Larry: The Orange Grove Bernstein, Nora: Extreme Flirting Alvarez, Victoria: Your Name After the Rain Bilbao, Jon: Fathers, Sons & Primates Diaz, Jenn: That’s What They Say Cardoso, Rafael: The Remnants Fux, Jacques: Anti-‐Therapies Montes, Raphael: Perfect Days 20 20 20 21 21 21 22 22 22 23 23 23 24 24 24 25 25 25 26 26 26 27 27 28 28 28 29 NON-‐FICTION REPRESENTED IN SELECTED TERRITORIES Benjamin, Medea: Drone Warfare Keenan, Thomas P.: Technocreep MacLean, Todd: Global Chorus Ross, Andrew: Creditocracy and the Case for Debt Refusal 3 Recent Rights Deals 2 Seas Agency – London Book Fair 2014 •
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Altucher, James, Choose Yourself: Bulgaria (Obsidian), Taiwan (Good Publishing), Poland (MT Bizens). Previous sales to Brazil (Tordesilhas/Alaude), China (Sunnbook Culture & Art), Czech Republic (Synergie), Korea (Seguroo), Turkey (Pegasus) Boyd, Andrew & Mitchell, Dave (eds.), Beautiful Trouble. A Toolbox for Revolution: France (Les Liens Qui Libèrent) Brasseur, Diane, Fidelities: Catalan (Edicions 62), Italy (Sonzogno), Poland (PWN), Spain (Salamandra) Didierlaurent, Jean-‐Paul, The Reader of the 6:27: Finland (Tammi), Sweden (Norstedts), World English (MacMillan UK) Diop, Boubacar Boris, The Knight and His Shadow: World English (Michigan State UP) Geary, Debora, A Modern Witch: Estonia (Ajakirjade). Previous sales to Brazil (Novo Conceito), China (ChongQing Green Culture), Hungary (Maxim), Korea (Greenfish), Russia (Eksmo), Spain (Principal de los Libros) Hayat, Philippe, Momo of Les Halles: Italy (Neri Pozza) Kouffman-‐Sherman, Paulette, When Mars Women Date: China (Hachette-‐Phoenix). Previous sales to Czech Republic (Synergie) and Korea (Daewoo) Maio, Juliana, City of the Sun: Serbia (Vulkan) Musso, Guillaume, 7 Years Later: Netherlands (Bruna) Obama Ndesandjo, Mark, An Obama’s Journey. My Odyssey of Self-‐Discovery Across Three Cultures: World English (Lyons Press) Osho, Mindfulness in the Modern World & Living on Your Own Terms: Netherlands (BBNC) Peeters, Elvis, Tuesday: Iceland (Bjartur) Simon, Coen, Waiting for Happiness. A Philosophy of Desire: Lithuania (Eugrimas) Singer, Tania & Ricard, Matthieu (eds.), Caring Economics. A Conversation Between the Dalai Lama, Economists, Social Entrepreneurs and Business Leaders: Germany (Knaus), Korea (Munhakdongne), Spain (Kairos), World English (Picador US) Vermalle, Caroline, Sixtine: Spain (Hachette-‐Bruño) Wolkers, Jan, Turkish Delight: Greece (Potamos), Korea (Hyundae Munhak) 4 Clients & Co-‐Agents 2 Seas Agency – London Book Fair 2014 2 Seas Agency is proud to represent (selected titles by) the following publishers, agents & authors: ENGLISH LANGUAGE / World Rights: BillyFish Books | February Books | Guernica Editions | Hyperink | Karina Library Press | Leapfrog Press | Nortia Press | Angela Ackerman & Becca Puglisi | James Altucher | Claudia Azula Altucher | Anna M. Campbell | Chloe Cox | Debora Geary | William Hertling | Victor W. Hwang & Greg Horowitt | Dr. Paulette Kouffman Sherman | Michael Krohnen | Nathan Lowell | Juliana Maio | J. Steve Miller FRANCE / World Rights: Allary Editions | Editions de l’Epée | Editions Ring | Hachette Romans | Le Livre de Poche THE NETHERLANDS / World Rights: Bertram + De Leeuw | J.M. Meulenhoff-‐De Boekerij | Nieuw Amsterdam | Podium GERMANY: Dr. Jonas Winner (World Translation Rights) | Thiele Verlag (World English Rights) ENGLISH LANGUAGE / Selected Territories: Lorella Belli Agency (Netherlands & Nordic Countries) | OR Books (France, Netherlands & Nordic Countries) | Osho International (Netherlands & Nordic Countries) | The Rights Factory (France & Netherlands) | University of New South Wales Press (Netherlands) FRENCH LANGUAGE / Selected Territories: L’Autre agence (Netherlands, Nordic Countries & North America) | Editions Au Diable Vauvert (Netherlands, Nordic Countries & World English) | Editions du Boréal (Netherlands, USA & Nordic Countries) | Editions Viviane Hamy (Netherlands) | XO Editions (Netherlands, author Guillaume Musso only) BRAZIL / Selected Territories: Villas-‐Boas & Moss Literary Consultancy (Netherlands & Nordic Countries) SPAIN, PORTUGAL & LATIN AMERICA / Selected Territories: The Ella Sher Literary Agency (Netherlands & North America) EXCLUSIVE CO-‐AGENTS For Our World Rights Titles Brazil: Villas-‐Boas & Moss Agency | Bulgaria: Anthea Agency | China: CA-‐Link | Germany: Editio Dialog Agency (Children’s & YA only) | Greece: Ersilia Agency | Hungary, Croatia: Andrew Nurnberg Associates Budapest | Israel: The Deborah Harris Agency | Italy, Portugal: The Ella Sher Agency | Poland: Graal Agency | Romania, Czech Republic, Slovakia: Livia Stoia Agency | Russia, Belarus, Ukraine: Anastasia Lester Agency | Serbia, Slovenia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Albania: PLIMA Agency | Spain: SalmaiaLit | Thailand, Vietnam: Tuttle Mori Agency Thailand | Turkey: Akçali Agency 5 Fiction Represented Worldwide 2 Seas Agency – London Book Fair 2014 AVOGADRO CORP – William Hertling Science Fiction-‐Thriller | English | Liquididea Press | 240 pp. | Nov. 2011 Sold: Germany (Festa Verlag) -‐ Over 16,000 copies sold! David Ryan is the designer of ELOPe, an email language optimization program that, if successful, will make his career. But when the project is suddenly in danger of being canceled, David embeds a hidden directive in the software accidentally creating a runaway artificial intelligence. David and his team are initially thrilled when the project is allocated extra servers and programmers. But excitement turns to fear as the team realizes that they are being manipulated by an A.I. who is redirecting corporate funds, reassigning personnel and arming itself in pursuit of its own agenda. Provides a chilling and compelling remedy to [the] gap in the speculative literature of the singularity. —Wired.com Avogadro Corp is the first of three stand-‐alone titles in the Singularity Series. 2 Seas also represents A.I. Apocalypse and The Last Firewall. Contact us for further information: [email protected]. REMEDY FOR A BROKEN ANGEL – Toni Ann Johnson Literary Fiction | English | Nortia Press | 280 pp. | June 2014 Serena is a Bermudan jazz singer whose mental health problems lead her to abandon her daughter “Artie.” Artie’s anger and curiosity eventually drive her to seek out Serena’s younger lover, Jamie L’Heureux, a jazz superstar. The spirit of Charles Mingus thrums throughout the story as these two women tangle in the complicated mess that is a mother-‐
daughter relationship. In soul-‐stirring rhythms and beguiling tones, Toni Ann Johnson illustrates how despite betrayal, divergent paths and irreparable damage, despite saying we are done forever, mothers and daughters are locked in the formation of each other. —Kate Maruyama, author of Harrogate CITY OF THE SUN – Juliana Maio Historical Fiction-‐Thriller | English | Greenleaf | 400 pp. | March 2014 Sold: Serbia (Vulkan) Love, espionage and power play upon the shifting sands of wartime Cairo as the history of the Middle East is brought to life in this exciting debut novel… CAIRO, EGYPT 1941. As the Second World War rages, the city known as ''Paris on the Nile'' plays host to an international set who seem more interested in polo matches and swanky nightclubs than the Germans' unrelenting advance across North Africa. Meanwhile, as refugees, soldiers, and spies stream into the city, the Nazis conspire with the emerging Muslim Brotherhood to fuel the Egyptian people's seething resentment against their British overlords. Vivid…a romantic thriller set during the early years of WWII…[a] satisfying exploration of a key time in Western and Middle Eastern relations. – Publishers Weekly 6 Fiction Represented Worldwide 2 Seas Agency – London Book Fair 2014 ADVENTURES OF A YOUNG DIVORCEE – Agnès Abécassis Fiction-‐Humor | French | Le Livre de Poche | 341 pp. | January 2014 (new edition) Deborah, a young housewife, submissive and dependent, divorces after discovering her husband cheating on her. She then finds herself in the life of a head of the family and workingwoman she had always ignored. The adventures keel coming for Deborah who will have to learn to undress in front of another man than her husband, to resist to a stalking boss, while infallibly taking care of her two children. And learning about this new independent life is only just beginning… Contains new illustrations by the author! New edition of the first novel by the bestselling author Agnès Abécassis, The Adventures of A Young Divorcee has sold more than 120,000 copies on its first publication. ONE DEATH TOO MANY – Alexandra Appers Psychological Thriller | French | Editions Ring | approx. 250 pp. | May 2014 There’s nothing much to do in the village of Saint-‐Amand-‐la-‐Givray. And nothing to hope for. The alternative is to escape. Especially when you're a twenty-‐five-‐year old guy with a dream. Otis dreams of becoming a tattoo artist. So far he has only used his talents on dogs and cats in the village. He only has eyes for Ella, a clueless and poisonous lolita, whose shapes are coveted by all the males of the surrounding neighborhoods. A relentless psychological thriller set in the heart of the mountains, with suspense tense as a bow that binds you to your chair, One Death Too Many depicts with virtuosity the bare skin of an unsteady family unit, in which a tragedy leads to the unimaginable. An irresistible huis clos whose unexpected ending immediately places the author among the masters of suspense. FIDELITIES – Diane Brasseur Literary Fiction | French | Allary Editions | 176 pp. | January 2014 Sold: Spain (Salamandra), Catalan (Edicions 62), Italy (Sonzogno), Poland (PWN); German offer pending. Two reprints within three weeks of publication! Consumed by guilt, a husband and father forces himself to make an impossible choice between his wife and his mistress. A few hours before taking off with his family to celebrate Christmas, the narrator isolates himself in one of the rooms of his house, and forces himself not to leave until he has made a decision. Many men are satisfied with a double life, but he isn’t: he loves his wife, he loves Alix, but he does not love infidelity. A portrait like a mirror exploded into fragments, in which we’ll all recognize ourselves a bit, whether we’re the one who cheated or who got cheated on, or neither one or the other, since this large internal conflict – wanting everything and nothing at the same time – is characteristic of our time… – Elle Magazine 7 Fiction Represented Worldwide 2 Seas Agency – London Book Fair 2014 ANIMAE (4 volumes) – Roxane Dambre Fantasy | French | Editions de l’Epée | approx. 300 pp./volume | Dec. 2012 – May 2014 Print editions to be published with Le Livre de Poche. First volume Lou’s Spirit (L’esprit de Lou): #1 Kindle in all categories -‐ Second volume The Coyote’s Trail (La trace du coyote): #1 Kindle Science Fiction and Fantasy! “My name is Lou, I’m twenty years old; a few days ago, I started working for the DCRI, the French Secret Service. My job, officially, is consultant at the Department for Research into the Inexplicable. Officially, that is. The truth is a little more complicated. Like all my people, my true nature is that of an animal: I can change myself… into a panther. This comes in very handy while tracking down strange creatures that prowl around in the streets of Paris at night! And at the moment, I’m busy. It seems that someone, or something, has decided to spoil my life. Perhaps to reveal my true nature to humans. I’ll find out what’s going on. This means I can’t spend time with my recruiting officer, the handsome captain Sylvain Levif. That’s why I’m in a bad mood. And if you’ve never seen a panther in a bad mood, you know nothing about fear!” ODESSA’S PROMISE – Natacha de Rosnay Women’s Fiction | French | Le Livre de Poche | approx. 310 pp. | June 2014 New edition -‐ Preface by Tatiana de Rosnay, author of Sarah’s Key A sentimental education set in tsarist Russia, with a foreword by the author’s grand-‐
daughter, international best-‐selling author Tatiana de Rosnay. An epic tale set in the Russia of the last tsars, and a promise of escape. Like all sixteen-‐
year-‐old girls, Zinaida has a romantic heart and dreams of meeting prince charming. Will it be Alexei, the dazzling young man she met at an evening concert, or one of those intellectuals seduced by the spontaneity and intelligence of this unusual woman, who is caught up in her love life as intensely as she is with the transformation of her country? NINA’S JOURNEY – Frédérique Deghelt Fiction | French | Le Livre de Poche | 264 pp. | Summer 2014 Her name is Nina, like Nina Simone the jazz singer. She is the little blue girl of her artist parents. Life is a feast until they die in a plane crash. Being forced to live with her grandparents whom she didn't know, Nina decides to do the impossible: she escapes and waits for her majority to return... An initiatory novel full of color and tenderness, Nina's Journey offers an uplifting story, punctuated by its catchy soundtrack and carried by its lively and attaching young heroine. Frédérique Deghelt is a journalist and television producer, and a tireless traveler with Paris as her base camp. She has also authored several novels published with Actes Sud, including La vie d'une autre which sold over 150,000 copies in mass market paperback edition with Le Live de Poche. 8 Fiction Represented Worldwide 2 Seas Agency – London Book Fair 2014 THE THREE BILLION DOLLAR WOMAN – Boris Dokmak Thriller | French | Editions Ring | 637 pp. | April 2013 She’s the world’s most famous missing person. She spreads death and chaos. Her name was Paris Hilton. In 2023, the spindly blonde has been missing for ten years without leaving a trace. Then suddenly her DNA is found on the embalmed body of a young blonde woman discovered in Bruges. Starting from this double revelation, Boris Dokmak launches two investigations. One in the US and the other in Belgium. From Europe to Latin America, from a wild California to Egypt and Russia, this thriller features serial killers and drug dealers, bent cops and pedophiles, secret services at bay, scientists and Egyptologists off their heads. Your summer must-‐read. -‐ Vanity Fair | A thriller as exciting as it is violent. —Le Parisien MOMO OF LES HALLES – Philippe Hayat Upmarket Fiction | French | Allary Editions | 415 pp. | February 2014 Sold: Italy (Neri Pozza); Spanish offer pending Inspired by real facts, Mono of Les Halles recounts the extraordinary destiny of a young Jewish boy, left to himself in occupied Paris. One morning in 1941, the young Maurice and his sister Marie are taken to a maid’s room by their father’s boss in the Les Halles district in Paris. Their parents have been raided. They are ordered not to leave and never to say they are Jewish. Adrift in occupied Paris, they will only be able to rely on Bulle, their prostitute neighbor, and the resourcefulness of “Momo”. On Les Halles square, the latter begins to give a helping hand in exchange for some food, then becomes an improvised fishmonger, vending illegally, and ends up starting a thriving home catering business. In a just a few months, Momo becomes a figure of Les Halles, until he too is arrested and deported to the Drancy internment camp. DOBERMANN (3 volumes) – Joël Houssin (dubbed “the French Stephen King” by the American press) Noir | French | Editions Ring | 800-‐1,000 pp./volume | June 2014 (new edition)
Sold over 1 million copies worldwide and adapted in part to the screen by Jan Kounen in 2000, starring Vincent Cassel and Monica Bellucci! From 1984 to 1988, the black flag of the Dobermann was hoisted in France. Nineteen episodes of the explosive and thrilling saga of the renegade of the French thriller which are united for the first time by Editions Ring in one noir title comprising three volumes. As far as the police is concerned, the word is clear: “Nobody wants to see the Doberman and his gang in prison. There are thugs one doesn’t arrest. The Dobermann is not a gangster like the others. He respects nothing. He robs banks for fun. It's not human. One has no right to despise money like that. Money must be earned. And the Dobermann, he only deserves to go to the hole... A very deep hole with soil on top. So shoot a pack of bullets in the head of this cop killer!” 9 Fiction Represented Worldwide 2 Seas Agency – London Book Fair 2014 LOCO – Joël Houssin Dystopian Thriller | French | Editions Ring | 235 pp. | September 2012 With the ultraviolent Loco an unconventional novelist returns to the forefront, depicting the bloody collision of two people competing for survival after the Armageddon. Nuclear and chemical fire fell on Earth. Those who have survived radiation and disease take refuge in fortresses, protected by the Progress soldiers, educated to serve, trained to kill. Chaos reigns outside these new protected cities. Irradiated or contaminated, burnt to the bone, gnawed by mutant viruses, these creatures survive in eternal fear. They’re grouped into ultraviolent gangs and see these fortresses as a paradise to conquer. Their future has no future. Until the day these “almost dead” decide to unite to launch the final assault... TROUBLE[S] – Florian Lafani & Gautier Renault Thriller | French | Editions de l’Epée/Le Livre de Poche | 207 pp. (7 episodes) | March 2014 Sold: Germany (Blanvalet), Italy (Sperling & Kupfer) Five hostages, five Facebook accounts, millions of likes: Dead or alive, we all choose together. An impossible choice, in seven episodes… “Help me!” When Charles reads this message on his friend Erasmus’ Facebook, he laughs at it. “Well, Erasmus, little sleep? Down this morning?” But Erasmus does not answer. He will not answer. He and four others in London have been kidnapped. So begins the most incredible hostage crisis the world has ever seen. The man who detains the five victims organizes a public vote on the web: “Choose the one you want to save.” And to show how serious he is, he kills one of the hostages, coldly and live on Facebook. “That one, you could not save. Which of the four others will you save?” These two authors certainly know the art of bluffing and nerves-‐playing! —Metro (review of the authors’ previous title Une partie en enfer) ROSY & JOHN – Pierre Lemaître (dubbed “The New Stieg Larsson” by The Times UK) Thriller | French | Le Livre de Poche | 144 pp. | June 2014 Sold: Italy (Mondadori), World English (MacLehose Press), Brazil (Autentica), Korea (Dasan) – Russian offer pending. Bestselling French thriller writer Pierre Lemaitre is back with an excellent new title, Rosy & John, a fast-‐paced addendum to his trilogy following inspector Camille Verhoeven and including Travail soigné, Alex and Sacrifices. Jean Garnier is a lonely loser who’s lost everything: his job after his boss died mysteriously; his girlfriend who was killed in a strange accident; and his mother, imprisoned recently. To scream his despair to the world, Jean sets up a mischievous plan: seven bombs hidden all over Paris and meant to explode every 24 hours. After the first one detonates, Jean Garnier gives himself up to the police. He has one simple request: his mother’s liberation or the daily explosions will continue… 10 Fiction Represented Worldwide 2 Seas Agency – London Book Fair 2014 UTØYA – Laurent Obertone Thriller | French | Editions Ring | 428 pp. | August 2013 Sold: Norway – best-‐selling title in France with over 70,000 copies sold! Preface by Stéphane Bourgoin, global specialist in mass murderers This novel deals with the events that occurred on the island of Utøya in Norway on 22 July 2011, involving the terrorist Anders Breivik’s killing of 77 people. Using police reports, criminal records, intimate writings by the murderer’s hand, testimonies of those close to him, of experts and survivors, Laurent Obertone conducted the first investigative inquiry on the life of Anders Breivik. With the seriousness and magnitude that characterizes Laurent Obertone’s writing, he embraces the fate of a murderer outside of the norm, whose crimes brutally plunged Europe into the twenty-‐first century. A writing that is both neurotic and brilliant. —Elle | A powerful and disturbing story, unparalleled. —Metro THE ARAB OF THE FUTURE (3 volumes) – Riad Sattouf Graphic Novel | French | Allary Editions | 180 pp./volume | May 2014 Full color – format 165 x 240 mm In the same vein as Maus by Art Spiegelman and Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis, The Arab of the Future is an autobiographical and political graphic novel. Raised by a paranoid Syrian father who dreamed of being a dictator, it is with devastating humor and great sensitivity that Riad Sattouf talks about his childhood and the story of his family in the Libya of Mouammar Kadhafi and the Syria of Hafez el Assad. The most ambitious and most accomplished work by Riad Sattouf, this first volume of The Arab of the Future is long-‐awaited by the press and the public. THE SAVAGE MAN – Michel Tabachnik Thriller | French | Editions Ring | 352 pp. | October 2013 1988. Marc is gambling, and like every night, he breaks the bank. Squeezing a pouch blackened by alchemical clavicles in the palm of his mutilated hands, he seems to play randomly... But his name has not always been Marc. His story is that of Soren, a young Danish professor of philosophy, materialistic and down-‐
to-‐earth, eager to follow in the footsteps of his father who died too soon. Until he discovers the mythical book of Ezekiel, a legendary work with unimaginable powers, which leaves him with the mark of disgrace, opprobrium, and forced exile. To cross this gap that severs him from his existence, Soren will have to become a new man, a man without attachments. A savage man. 11 Fiction Represented Worldwide 2 Seas Agency – London Book Fair 2014 GYPSY BLUES – Jean Vautrin Fiction | French | Allary Editions | approx. 300 pp. | Fall 2014 The winner of the 1989 Goncourt Prize returns to the front of the literary scene and addresses one of Europe's the most sensitive issues: Gypsies. Since he loves their culture and language, the author slips into the skin of a young gypsy called Cornelius Runkele, aged 15 at the beginning of the book. He is lively, intelligent, goes to school, and wants to integrate. But he soon discovers that being a gypsy means being rejected. Caught up by his clan, dragged into shenanigans by the elders, he eventually gets tracked down and killed by the police at the age of 24. Gypsy Blues consists of four notebooks that Cornelius Runkele left before he died. One of the Vautrin's great strengths is the ability to put his formidable, vivid, flamboyant, musical style at the service of the gypsy cause and culture. ALL THINGS ARE BEAUTIFUL – Alex Boogers Literary Fiction | Dutch | Uitgeverij Podium | 384 pp. | 2012 Bobby Fischer’s statement, “Nothing is so healing as the human touch,” is the spot-‐
on motto of this delicate yet suspenseful novel. All Things Are Beautiful depicts three fathers whose lives intersect at a crucial time. Remy van Sand loses his grip on life when his doctor brings him bad news. He quits his teaching job and manically writes in his diaries. This turns his greatest fear into reality: he distances himself increasingly from his wife and nine-‐year-‐old daughter. The second young father, journalist Arthur Rauwman, is waiting for a donor heart for his son Taij. In the hospital Taij and Remy connect in a special way. Detective Roeland Markus, father of adolescent daughter Zoe, completes the triangle. A carefully constructed and very dynamically written page-‐turner. – Jan | An original voice in the landscape of novels. —NRC Handelsblad 2 Seas also represents Boogers’ successful novella When The Ants Are Screaming, in which film right have been sold. Contact us for more information: [email protected] 12 Fiction Represented Worldwide 2 Seas Agency – London Book Fair 2014 US – Elvis Peeters Literary Fiction | Dutch | Uitgeverij Podium | 176 pp. | 2009 Sold: Germany (Aufbau/Blumenbar), Hungary (Europa) English sample & full German translation available. Us mercilessly tests the boundaries of our moral. He describes how eight adolescents – four girls, four boys – spend their days and nights together. ‘We enjoyed being who we were, inexperienced and irresponsible.’ At the start of summer, we follow the group of friends to a nearby road bridge where they conduct an innocent experiment: the girls wave at the cars whilst teasingly lifting up their skirts. They wonder if anyone will notice them not wearing any pants. The first results are disappointing: only a few drivers beep, a few cars swing. But the next day: result. Revealing more and more naked skin, the girls cause a catastrophic multiple collision. Us sharpens one’s senses, broadens one’s mind and offers the best of what literature may be expected to. —De Volkskrant (*****) A shining example of how powerful literature can be when it encourages people to contemplate the world they live in. —Het Parool (*****) 2 Seas also represents Peeters’ successful novels The Uncountables which was sold to Slovenia (English sample available) and Tuesday which was sold to Denmark-‐Turbine, Iceland-‐Bjartur, Turkey-‐Alef, and Croatia-‐Hrvatsko Filolosko Drustvo (English sample available). Contact us for more information: [email protected] TANKSTELLE – Auke van Stralen Thriller | Dutch | Nieuw Amsterdam | 288 pp. | January 2014 Germany, 1998. While studying mathematics at university, Douwe works at a gas station where he befriends Mehmet and Toni. Via Toni, Douwe is introduced to a courier service that uses luxurious business cars. Douwe and Mehmet join the service and are initiated to a world of highways, hotels and secret codes. They never get to see their cargo, so-‐called “soap-‐bars”, even the couriers ignore where exactly the loot is hidden in the car. Literally mountains of money await them at the end of their drive. Their trips take them to posh resorts, women and champagne. The line between friendship and betrayal however, turns out to be extremely thin. A crime saga, think Scorcese’s movie Goodfellas, but set in Karlsruhe rather than New York, and German gas stations, Tankstelle, instead of American-‐Italian restaurants. —VPRO Radio Auke van Stralen writes fast, visually and effective, and Tankstelle is a surprisingly good debut. A sure candidate for the 2014 thriller debut prize. **** —De Volkskrant 13 Non-‐Fiction Represented Worldwide 2 Seas Agency – London Book Fair 2014 GODS, WEAPONS AND MONEY. The Puzzle of Power – Eugen O. Chirovici Current Affairs | English | Nortia Press | 280 pp. | April 2014 Three forms of power have been exercised throughout human history: symbolic, military, and economic power. In Gods, Weapons and Money, Eugen O. Chirovici takes us on a journey to answer the most basic but profound questions about the sources of human influence. Eugen O. Chirovici is a member of the Romanian Academy of Sciences and recipient of the Star of Romania, the highest distinction of the Republic. In 2009 he was awarded the Kent Medallion by the HRH Duke of Kent in Great Britain. He holds honorary PhDs in Economics, Communication and History, and is the author of five non-‐fiction books and over ten novels. Eugen O. Chirovici demonstrates in a highly scholarly yet clear and accessible manner, how the mysterious alchemy of power can be reverse engineered; examined, understood and explained. —Chaim Henry Gehl, Israeli businessman This book reveals the dilemma of using military or economic power to subjugate human resistance. ... It should serve as a valuable analytic contribution to the recorded history of mankind. —Thomas W. Jackson, the Executive General Secretary of The World Conference of Masonic Grand Lodges, USA AN OBAMA’S JOURNEY: My Odyssey of Self-‐Discovery Across Three Cultures – Mark Obama Ndesandjo Memoir | English | Lyons Press | approx. 350 pp. | August 2014 In his remarkable memoir, Mark Obama Ndesandjo recounts his complex relationship with his older half-‐
brother, President Barack Obama, including their first meeting in Kenya over twenty years ago. This memoir also sheds new light on the Obama family's history, including a critical analysis of Dreams From My Father by Barack Obama. Through the author’s detailed descriptions of their intense meetings, he offers the reader a glimpse at the man behind the 44th President of the United States of America. He also discusses their shared mixed race origins: like the President, Ndesandjo is American and has a white American mother, Ruth Ndesandjo née Baker, a Jewish woman who was Barack Obama Sr.’s third wife. His memoir also offers the author’s inspiring personal story about identity and multiculturalism. Mark’s journey of self-‐discovery took him across three cultures: Kenyan, American and Chinese. While growing up in Kenya, he was very close to his Jewish-‐American mother and grandparents. This brutally honest look at the author’s past, which includes life-‐changing moments and poignant reflections of one man’s search for his true purpose, renders a portrait of the world we live in today, one of increasing globalization. THE ART OF BEING UNMISTAKABLE – Srinivas Rao Inspiration | English | CreateSpace | 132 pp. | November 2013
We live in such a hyper-‐connected society today flooded with so much talent and so much noise. Talent alone won’t cut it. Whether you’re an artist, musician, writer or creator of sorts, to stand out in the world you must be unmistakable. It’s the only option. To create unmistakable work, you must take risks. You must cross lines, personal and professional. You must go to the point of a no return. On my 34th birthday, I asked myself a question. “If this had been the last year of my life, would I have been ok with how I’d lived?” When my answer was a resounding NO, I knew that something had to change. So I started to write in a way that was more honest, more transparent and more vulnerable than I ever had. I committed career suicide, one Facebook status update at a time. 14 Non-‐Fiction Represented Worldwide 2 Seas Agency – London Book Fair 2014 CARING ECONOMICS. A Conversation Between the Dalai Lama, Economists, Social Entrepreneurs and Business Leaders Economics/Science | English | Allary Editions | approx. 52,000 words | 2015 Sold: World English (Picador US), Germany (Knaus/Randomhouse), Korea (Munhakdongne), Spain (Kairos)
Includes 31 images (world rights cleared). Edited by Tania Singer, director of the Department of Social Neuroscience at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig, Germany, and international best-‐selling author Matthieu Ricard. Caring Economics gives different perspectives from various internationally renowned scientists on the need and the possibilities of establishing a more altruistic human economy. Each chapter consists of a presentation by the scientist, followed by a discussion with The Dalai Lama. DEREK’S GIFT – Michael Tougias and Buck Harris Family/Relationships | English | Nortia Press | 200 pp. | April 2014
If you liked Tuesdays with Morrie, The Fault in Our Stars or The Last Lecture, you must read Derek’s Gift. Perhaps your life journey will change as a result! When Derek Sheckman, a high school senior, was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer he began keeping a journal of his experiences and insights. The journal is an amazing piece of writing from someone son young, filled with his innermost thoughts, observations and the life lessons he wished to share with others. Bestselling author Michale J. Tougias and teacher Buck Harris share the journal, the lessons we can all learn from it, and the amazing, uplifting journey of the five key people in Derek’s life. This gritty story shows us the true meaning of love, friendship and courage, and has the ability to enrich us all. On Tougias’ previous title, A Storm Too Soon: Tougias creates a suspenseful, tautly rendered story that leaves readers breathless but well-‐satisfied. —Kirkus | A breath-‐taking book. —Los Angeles Times | Riveting and meticulously researched —The New York Post ANAIS NIN. Naked Under the Mask – Elizabeth Barillé Fictionalized Biography | French | Le Livre de Poche | 336 pp. | October 2013 (reprint) A tribute to the world’s first female erotic writer. Anais Nin’s personality and writings continue to inspire people throughout the world and this new publication at Le Livre de Poche shows how timeless Barillé’s book is. Anaïs Nin was born in France en 1903. It’s her father, disappointed to have a daughter, who chose this ambiguous name. An esthete and perverse pianist, Joaquin Nin abandoned his wife and children ten years later. Teenager haunted by literature then frustrated wife of an Anglo-‐Saxon banker, an American in Paris, socialite against her will, Anaïs knows only one pleasure: writing. She is thirty years old when she meets Henry Miller. She loves, supports and funds him. Quiet and disturbing, Anaïs! Fanciful and ascetic, elusive and king of a magician… She attracted to her Artaud, Brassaï, Allendy, Rank, Breton, Dureell… Anaïs is a diary. Fifty years of writing, forty-‐five thousand pages for a long time buried in a Brooklyn basement. From this monumental “confession” Elisabeth Barillé draws a romantic portrait, woven into the very substance of her work, her life. 15 Non-‐Fiction Represented Worldwide 2 Seas Agency – London Book Fair 2014 999 YEARS OF SERIAL KILLERS – Stéphane Bourgoin True Crime | French | Editions Ring | 454 pp. | March 2013 The biggest gallery of killers in history: 365 authentic portraits of serial killers, one for each day of the year, from antiquity until today. 13-‐time assassin and sentenced to death, one forgets to hang him for seven years, and he is pardoned. A short story writer and fan of Hannibal Lecter rips his mother’s belly open to place a doll in it. A Miami police officer and serial killer of criminals, he inspires the hero of the TV series Dexter. A teenage girl who denounces her serial killer father in a talk show on TV. A Swedish vampire who consumes the flesh of his two sisters. In Hong Kong, little girls are killed and raped to “create” ghosts that are to torment the murderer’s wife. A transvestite serial killer who loves to dress up as Adolf Hitler. A father and his son both become serial killers, at an interval of 22 years. A schizophrenic serial killer who dreams of being Freddy Krueger. An authentic serial killer hired to play alongside Val Kilmer. Transvestite and gay icon, “Ryan The Skinner” becomes a Death Row singing star. Sentenced for thirty-‐eight murders he confessed to having committed, Thomas Quick is a serial killer who never was one… THE HISTORICAL DICTIONARY OF PARIS – Roselyn de Ayala (ed.) History | French | Le Livre de Poche | 832 pp. | October 2013
Written by more than 40 specialists in 400 entries with 200 color and black & white illustrations, this book explores the characters, places, events and evolutions that have made Paris unique throughout the ages. From A to Z, this dictionary reveals the history of the Ville Lumière: events, institutions, cultural life, art, intellectual and religious history… From the Eiffel Tower to Père Lachaise, from Lapin Agile to the Pont Neuf, from Clovis to Montmartre’s Vineyards, readers will learn where to find the oldest house in Paris, what happened at the tower of Nesle and more… 50 PRECONCEIVED IDEAS ON AGRICULTURE AND FOOD – Marc Dufumier Essay/Nutrition | French | Allary Editions | 256 pp. | February 2014
Many people believe drinking milk and eating fish is good for your health. Read Marc Dufumier’s revealing book why these convictions need to be questioned… What is really happening on our plates and in the countryside? We hear so many contradictory claims about agriculture and food. This book takes stock of the state of scientific knowledge, and distinguishes truth from falsehood regarding all our preconceived ideas. 50 Preconceived Ideas on Agriculture and Food gives clear, indisputable answers, which challenge many of our generally accepted ideas, even from scientists who do not share Marc Dufumier’s ecological spirit. Enlightening. Essential. -‐ Nicolas Hulot 16 Non-‐Fiction Represented Worldwide 2 Seas Agency – London Book Fair 2014 WITH A VIEW BELOW THE SEA – Slimane Kader True Story | French | Allary Editions | 262 pp. | March 2014
An exceptional testimony in which the author recounts his life as a modern slave in the hold of a gigantic cruise ship. One morning, Slimane Kader decides to get a job on a cruise ship in the Caribbean Sea. Bye bye rough Parisian suburbs, hello Miami! But he won’t be seeing much of the palms nor doing much farniente. He ends up being a handyman in a floating city, which carries 8,000 passengers. 6,000 of them have a view on the sea: the tourists. The other 2,000 live below the sea level: they are modern slaves, whose task it is to meet with the desires of the upper floors. The Chinese are in the kitchen, the Indians in the laundry room, the Mauritians take care of the service, the Mexicans do the cleaning. Slimane, a young French man of Kabylian descent, finds himself at the bottom of the ladder: he is the “joker,” assigned to perform the most menial tasks as needed. A writer one needs to read urgently for the intelligence he shares and the jubilation he produces. —Philosopher Yves Michaud WWW. A Political Theory of the Internet – Alexandre Lacroix Philosophy | French | Allary Editions | approx. 100 pp. | Early 2015 In about one hundred pages, filled with examples of our daily life, 39-‐year-‐old novelist and philosopher Alexandre Lacroix shows that the Internet entirely revolutionizes politics, and that we have not yet fully grasped it. We continue to use the same concepts of “citizen,” “public space,” “state” or “freedom,” without realizing that with the generalization of the Internet, they no longer have the same meaning. Alexandre Lacroix is editor-‐in-‐chief of the successful monthly French magazine Philosophie Magazine, and advisor to the editorial board of its German counterpart, Philosophie Magazin. He has published several novels and essays among which Contribution a la theorie du baiser (essay) and De la superiorite des femmes (novel), and has been translated in among others German, Italian, and Korean. CUBA NO. The Forgotten Speak Out – Ludo Mendès Narrative | French | Editions Ring | 345 pp. | October 2013 Socialist paradise or totalitarian hell? Nobody really knows. Nobody wants to know. Cuba still symbolizes a dream of a new society -‐ despite its failures, misfortunes, and dictatorship. For decades, armies of “specialized” journalists, constrained by censorship, keep the fantasy alive of an acceptable communism. Acceptable to whom? Cuba No presents the exceptional testimony of a man who has been immersed in the heart of Cuban society for twenty years. For the first time and via dazzling letters, Ludo Mendès delivers these truths that the government feared one day to be printed. Kafkaesque administration, secret police with spy methods, daily tricks... He tears down the curtain of advertisements that hides the true Cuba from the eyes of millions of tourists who visit the country each year. Reporter Ludo Mendès shares the Cubans’ everyday life since the mid-‐1990s. As an underground correspondent, he delivers his Cuban discoveries to the readers of about a dozen European and North American media channels. 17 Non-‐Fiction Represented Worldwide 2 Seas Agency – London Book Fair 2014 SON OF SAM – Michaël Mention True Crime | French | Editions Ring | 383 pp. | January 2014 He covered the streets of New York in blood and traumatized millions of Americans. This book recounts the true story of the “son of Sam”. New York, 1977. A mysterious killer who prowls at night and decimates its young people with his revolver. A unique predator in the sphere of serial killers, defying the authorities, the media and the entire country. This criminal case was the subject of a film, Summer of Sam, directed by Spike Lee starring Adrien Brody, but some issues have not yet been explored... Michael Mention recounts this amazing investigation, through new angles of investigation. Son of Sam is situated between an account and a thriller, and makes you relive the crusade of the “.44 Caliber Killer”, thanks to numerous documents and photos that turn it into much more than a book: a book that reads like a movie, an immersion in the head of one of the most complex killers. A plunge into the heart of the United States from rock music to disco, from LSD to the CIA, from Hollywood to satanism... This is a portrait of a nation seen through one of its outcasts, who has became an icon for serial killers. CLOCKWORK ORANGE FRANCE – Laurent Obertone True Crime | French | Editions Ring | 350 pp. | January 2013 | Over 130,000 copies sold! Today, a simple look can kill. You may turn your eyes away, ignore the figures, put your children in a different school, excuse yourself or relocate, the reality of everyday life will catch up with you. Clockwork Orange France is the most successful investigation to date about a taboo subject: a nation becoming savage. Monstrous petty crimes that have been ignored, damning testimonies from victims, policemen and magistrates, finally break the law of silence. Graduated from the Lille School of Journalism and considered by Michel Houellebecq as one of the major names of tomorrow, Laurent Obertone submitted his resignation to the weekly newspaper that employed him to devote himself to writing. Clockwork Orange France has become the most read and most commented on in last 5 years, reaching 130,000 copies sold and becoming a social phenomenon. PHILOSOPHY IN AN ARMCHAIR – Ollivier Pourriol Cinema/Philosophy | French | Allary Editions | approx. 300 pp. | Fall 2014 Writer and philosopher Ollivier Pourriol has been teaching philosophy in movie theaters for ten years. During these classes he uses movie extracts to explain great writers and concepts. In Cinéphilo and Vertiges du désir, his previous books in which he explains philosophy through cinema, movie scenes were narrated. This time, they are actually shown, thanks to 100 photos of famous movies opposite to which Ollivier Pourriol develops a philosophical idea. He does so in dialogue form, like he did in his previous bestseller On, Off and in particular like Plato did in his dialogues: it’s a way of doing philosophy while addressing a large audience. This is a book for readers who want to initiate themselves to philosophy in a serious and playful way. 18 Non-‐Fiction Represented Worldwide 2 Seas Agency – London Book Fair 2014 A PLEA FOR ANIMALS – Matthieu Ricard Essay | French | Allary Editions | approx. 300 pp. | Fall 2014 Our massive meat consumption is harmful for world famine, global warming, our health, and has only been made possible at the cost of mass killings that the food industry has perpetrated and kept far away from our eyes and our conscience. How is such madness possible? With supporting scientific studies and in the tradition of his best-‐selling title Plaidoyer pour l’Altruisme, Buddhist monk Matthieu Ricard shows it’s urgent to change our relationship to animals, to be more altruistic by treating them as our “friends” and not as “things”. Beyond the question of vegetarianism (Matthieu Ricard is vegetarian), this book opens our eyes to what we are really doing to animals, and to the harm we inflict upon ourselves, and them, while doing so. It is urgent to change our relationship to animals. ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE. A Biography – Koos Neuvel Essay | Dutch | Podium | 358 pp. | March 2014 According to Alzheimer’s Disease International, in 2013 nearly 36 million people had Alzheimer’s or a related dementia. It’s a disease that evokes a lot of fear and anxiety. How did it actually get this bad reputation? Is the suffering of an Alzheimer's patient really so dramatic? And why hasn’t anybody succeeded yet in finding a cure for this awful disease? When the mother of scientific journalist Koos Neuvel was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, he researched the phenomenon thoroughly. The result is this “biography” in which Neuvel discusses Alzheimer's from its “birth” in the early 20th century to the most recent developments, which give rise to a cautious optimism in the field of prevention and care. This fascinating book is not only a standard for health professionals and caregivers of Alzheimer's patients, but it can also be read as an exploration into the nature of this unjustly dreaded disease. WAITING FOR HAPPINESS. A Philosophy of Desire – Coen Simon Philosophy | Dutch | Nieuw Amsterdam | 168 pp. | 2012 Sold: Croatia (Naklada Ljevak), Lithuania (Eugrimas), Spain (Ariel/Planeta); German and World English offers pending English sample and full Spanish translation available Modern man wants too much, at least according to his own self-‐diagnosis, and that is why many of us subject ourselves to self-‐analysis. Because if we know who we are, we’ll know better what we really want. Yet one question is constantly overlooked: does the world ever offer what we want? In Waiting for Happiness philosopher Coen Simon immerses himself in his own feelings of hope, longing, laziness, love, aggression, impatience and embarrassment, and uncovers a surprising aspect of desire: it is not the fulfillment, but the desire itself that gives meaning to life. 19 Fiction Represented in Selected Territories 2 Seas Agency – London Book Fair 2014 SOMEONE ELSE AND YOU – Matt Cahill Literary Fiction | English | The Rights Factory/Wolsak & Wynn | 2015 2 Seas Represents: Dutch and French rights (excl. Canada). When his father — a distinguished writer — unexpectedly passes away, Derrick van der Lem’s insulated world implodes, leaving a much stranger and crueler place than the one he knew. In the midst of his downward spiral, the mysterious Society of Experience asks him to take part in a baffling science experiment involving time travel, with the possibility of changing his life and pulling him out of his rut. When the experiment begins to untangle, Derrick finds himself out of his depth and in the middle of a nightmare, with only the company of a beautiful stranger to steer him from chaos to heartbreak. Part Philip K. Dick, part mystery, Someone Else and You is an inventive, fast-‐
paced story of a man’s journey through streets, alleyways, and deserted buildings, for a better future. EXTRAORDINARY – David Gilmour Literary Fiction | English (Canada) | The Rights Factory/HarperCollins Canada | 200 pp. | August 2013 2 Seas Represents: Dutch and French rights (excl. Canada). Sold: French Canada (Groupe VML). Over the course of one Saturday night, a man and his half-‐sister meet at her request to spend the evening preparing for her assisted death. They drink and reminisce fondly, sadly, amusingly about their lives and especially her children, both of whom have led dramatic and profoundly different lives. Extraordinary is a gentle consideration of assisted suicide, but it is also a story about siblings — about how brothers and sisters turn out so differently; about how little, in fact, turns out the way we expect. In the end, this is a novel about the extraordinary business of being alive, and it may well be David Gilmour’s very best work of fiction to date. I finished David Gilmour’s Extraordinary… pretty much in one sitting, […] its central character is one of the most interesting and entertaining fictional women I’ve encountered in a while. —The Globe and Mail BORN WEIRD – Andrew Kaufman Literary Fiction | English | The Rights Factory/Random House Canada | 288 pp. | January 2013 2 Seas Represents: Dutch and French rights (excl. Canada). By the same author: The Tiny Wife. Sold: TV (Temple Street Productions), French Canada (Alto), Germany (Luchterhand), Denmark (Republik), Sweden (Printz Publishing). At the moment of the births of her five grandchildren Annie Weird gave each one a special power. Richard, the oldest, always keeps safe; Abba always has hope; Lucy is never lost and Kent can beat anyone in a fight. As for Angie, she always forgives, instantly. But over the years these so-‐called blessings ended up ruining their lives. Now Annie is dying and she has one last task for Angie: gather her far-‐flung brothers and sisters and assemble them in her grandmother’s hospital room so that at the moment of her death, she can lift these blessings-‐turned-‐curses. And Angie has just two weeks to do it. Kaufman’s stories are whimsical, gentle and reassuringly upbeat…. This novel rests firmly on a vision of hope and imagination. —The Globe and Mail 20 Fiction Represented in Selected Territories 2 Seas Agency – London Book Fair 2014 THE FRENCH FOR LOVE – Fiona Valpy Commercial women’s fiction | English | LBLA/Bookouture | 310 pp. | July 2013 2 Seas Represents: Dutch, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian and Swedish rights. Sold: Germany (Luebbe, 2-‐bk deal), Turkey (Pegasus, 2-‐bk deal); Norwegian offer pending. Fans of Katie Fforde, Carole Matthews or Erica James – and everyone who enjoyed Nick Alexander’s The French House – will love The French for Love and its follow-‐up The French for Always. Gina has lost her perfect job, her boyfriend and her favourite aunt all within the space of a few months. So when she inherits her aunt’s ramshackle French house, Gina decides to pack her bags for the Bordeaux countryside – swapping the miserable English weather for blue skies, sunshine, great wine and a fresh start. What she hasn’t factored in is a hole in the roof, the most embarrassing language faux pas, and discovering family secrets that she was never supposed to know. ZEBRA CROSSING – Meg Vandermerwe Literary Fiction | English | LBLA/Umuzi-‐Random House | 224 pp. | June 2013 2 Seas Represents: Dutch, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian and Swedish rights. Sold: Oneworld Publications (World English excl. South Africa). For readers of Doris Lessing, Nadine Gordimer, Aminatta Forna and Dan Jacobson. Two young Africans, Chipo and her older brother, George, flee poverty and turmoil in Zimbabwe after the death of their mother to follow a dream of a better life in Cape Town. Chipo is special in more than one way: she is a black albino, which arouses curiosity, fear or worse in equal measure, in most people she meets. Set in the months before and during the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, Zebra Crossing gives us a vivid and tragic picture of the fear, violence, unrest and hopes that the football competition caused, bringing out the best and worst of human nature. For post-‐empire readers it is sobering to see what the legacy of European rule in Africa is still causing now. MY THREE PARENTS – Maurice Vellekoop Graphic Novel | English | The Rights Factory/Pantheon-‐Random House | 2015 2 Seas Represents: Dutch and French rights (excl. Canada). In three sections, Maurice Vellekoop writes about his loving but fraught relationships with his staunchly Calvinist father and mother, both Dutch immigrants, and a very ‘out’ art school professor who more or less becomes the third parent of the title. The major thrust of the book explores Vellekoop’s near-‐religious devotion to culture, which becomes his salvation from a somewhat dreary, very strict suburban childhood. Vellekoop further explores how an evolving critique of his relationship to that culture helps him with an ongoing struggle to accept his homosexuality, deal with depression and at last begin a search for self-‐acceptance and love. 21 Fiction Represented in Selected Territories 2 Seas Agency – London Book Fair 2014 MY HEART IS NOT MY OWN – Michael Wuitchik Literary Fiction | English | The Rights Factory/Penguin Canada | 384 pp. | August 2013 2 Seas Represents: Dutch and French rights (excl. Canada). Dr. John Rourke is haunted by his days as a relief doctor in West Africa. In the 1990s, in the midst of a civil war, he provided medical attention and supplies to the people of Sierra Leone. He befriended a local nurse named Mariama Lahai and a doctor named Momodu, but lost contact when the conflict escalated to conflagration. His last memory of Sierra Leone is of Mariama delivering a beautiful baby girl to a tortured, mutilated mother just before armed rebels take the hospital. Now living in Vancouver and happily married to Nadia, who is expecting their first child, John is thrust back into the horrors of the past by the arrival of a package from Sierra Leone. He realizes that before he can commit to his future, he’ll have to confront his conscience and the pain of his past. He embarks upon a journey that takes him back into Mariama’s world of child soldiers, bushwives, and African secret societies. My Heart Is Not My Own is a story of love, courage, and resilience that is brought to life through the powerful voice of Mariama. CUBA IN SPLINTERS – Pardo Lazo Orlando Luis (ed.) Short Stories | Spanish/English | OR Books | 224 pp. | 2014 2 Seas Represents: Dutch, French, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian and Swedish rights Think Cuba, you’re likely to think bearded revolutionaries in fatigues. Salsa. Sugar cane. Rock ‘n’ roll, zombies, drugs – anomie and angst – do not generally figure in our mental images of a country that’s assumed an outsized place in the American imagination. But fresh from the tropics, in Cuba in Splinters – a sparkling package of stories we’re assured are fictional – that’s exactly what you’ll find. Eleven writers largely unknown outside Cuba depict a world that veers from a hyperreal Havana in decay, against a backdrop of oblivious drug-‐toting German tourists, to a fantasy land – or is it? – where vigilant Cubans bar the door to zombies masquerading as health inspectors. Sex and knife-‐fights, stutterers and addicts, losers and lost literary classics: welcome to a raw and genuine island universe closed to casual visitors. METIS BEACH – Claudine Bourbonnais Literary Fiction | French (Canada) | Editions Boreal | approx. 500 pp. | Spring 2014 2 Seas Represents: English (USA), Dutch, Danish, Finnish, Icelandic, Norwegian and Swedish rights. Métis Beach is the story of a man who saw his dream come true before it all slipped away, but who continues to fight to the end for his ideals. It is a celebration of the unassailable legacy from the Sixties: the right to happiness, your own happiness. Hollywood, 1995. Screenwriter Roman Carr is at the peak of his career. The series he’s written, In Gad We Trust, has met with tremendous success. Naturally, whenever you achieve great success, you’re sure to make enemies. However, in Roman Carr’s case, his enemies are especially nasty. His series, which satirizes evangelical churches, has attracted antagonism from Christian fundamentalists. When one of the characters compares God to a mafia boss, even the producers of the show protest. You can’t say things like that, they claim – “It’s anti-‐American!” 22 Fiction Represented in Selected Territories 2 Seas Agency – London Book Fair 2014 OCEAN PARK – Ludovic Debeurme Literary Fiction | French | L’Autre agence/Alma Editeur | 220 pp. | January 2014 2 Seas Represents: Dutch, English (NA), Danish, Finnish, Icelandic, Norwegian and Swedish rights. Ludovic Debeurme creates an original tale of a modern, 21st century family, with subtle shades of magic realism. Debeurme’s narrative masterfully evokes a disturbing strangeness, seeking deliberately to alienate the reader. Nonetheless, the idiosyncratic narrative voice is immediately striking, and the reader is drawn irrevocably into this peculiar world from the opening few pages. Two brothers are rebuilding their lives, whilst the existence that their parents have created is slowly crumbling. Two brothers. One is unable to control his urge for sexual intimacy: a nighttime predator. The other, the older of the two, is homeless and somewhat psychotic in nature. He creates a parallel world for himself in an igloo tent, a real portable Nautilus. THE READER OF THE 6:27 – Jean-‐Paul Didierlaurent Fiction | French | Au Diable Vauvert | 192 pp. | May 2014 2 Seas Represents: World English, Dutch, Danish, Finnish, Icelandic, Norwegian and Swedish rights Sold: World English (MacMillan UK), Spain (Seix Barral), Italy (Rizzoli), Germany (DTV), Sweden (Norstedts), Finland (Tammi), Israel (Modan); offers pending in Taiwan, Brazil, Hungary, Slovakia, and Czech Republic When the passion of reading seizes the machine of solitude... An original and feel-‐good debut novel, which renders a generous reflection on human relationships and an ode to simple life, love and literature. Discrete employee Guylain Vignolles works in the book pulping business and is in charge of a formidable machine that shreds unsold works. He leads a dull and lonely existence, steered by his commutes to the factory. Yet every morning on his way to work, in the suburbian train that departs at 6:27 AM, he reads a few pages he saved the day before from the iron teeth of the Zerstor 500. One day, Guylain discovers the texts of a mysterious woman, which will change the course of his life... THE QUEEN’S PORTRAIT – Emmanuel Kattan Literary Fiction | French (Canada) | Editions Boreal | 168 pp. | October 2013 2 Seas Represents: English (USA), Dutch, Danish, Finnish, Icelandic, Norwegian and Swedish rights. Sold: Romania (2-‐book deal, Univers). Rick Boisvert, who works in New York City, always follows the same path on his weekend walks, and always has breakfast at the Nations Diner on First Avenue, is not the kind to snatch purses from old ladies. He craves company and sometimes experiences “bursts of the imagination” that shatter the monotony of his daily routine. So, when he sees a woman dressed in a canary-‐yellow raincoat who bears a passing resemblance to the Queen of England, nothing can stop his imagination from running wild. As for the woman—a resident of Sutton Place—why shouldn’t she take part in this game? Why not give him what he so desires? And so begins a strange and astonishing relationship set in a wonderfully depicted New York City. 23 Fiction Represented in Selected Territories 2 Seas Agency – London Book Fair 2014 WHAT MY SILENCE WROTE -‐ Céline Lapertot Literary Fiction | French | Viviane Hamy | 170 pp. | January 2014 2 Seas Represents: Dutch rights Charlotte killed her father. A short time before her court appearance, where she will have to acknowledge her act and recount the ten years leading up to it, she writes the judge an open letter describing the hell she lived in, which led her to commit the irreparable. She was seven years old when her father, who up until then had cosseted her, inflicting violence only on her mother, became her nightmare. At night he locked his daughter in the cellar and, by keeping a girl's bedroom upstairs, maintained the illusion, to the outside world, of the peaceful existence of a child. He would give his daughter a glimpse of the locked room to deepen her humiliation. Her account is the scream that Charlotte cannot let out in front of the adults who question her and the peers who are disquieted by her difference. THE WALL BETWEEN US – Catherine Leroux Literary Fiction | French (Canada) | L’Autre agence/Alto | 377 pp. | Sept. 2013 2 Seas Represents: English (USA), Dutch, Danish, Finnish, Icelandic, Norwegian and Swedish rights. Madeleine talks to herself, even when she is in the company of others. Ariel and Marie’s defenses break down when they hold hands for the first time. Simon and Carmen attempt, between two earthquakes, to find out the truth from their mother about their existence, while Angie and Monette unknowingly forge connections between each character. A choral novel carried by musical and evocative language, The Wall Between Us unfurls four entangled stories that transport us from the eastern coast of Canada to California and the Southern United States, stories that are so beautiful they can only be true. Praised since the release of her first novel (La marche en forêt), Catherine Leroux has already demonstrated the maturity of an accomplished and original writer. DARKNESS AND LIGHT – Dominique Sylvain Crime Fiction | French | Viviane Hamy | 377 pp. | March 2014 2 Seas Represents: Dutch rights After the international success of The Dark Angel (MacLehose Press), discover the new adventure of Lola Jost and Ingrid Diesel! In this devilishly well-‐crafted crime novel, neither the guilty nor the innocent are quite what they seem. Political-‐legal scandals intertwine in a way reminiscent of those thousand-‐piece puzzles that superintendent Lola Jost is fond of. In Paris, Sacha Duguin is accused of the murder of his superior who had dabbled in insider influence linked to arms contracts and suspicious retro commissioning processes in Africa. To exonerate her friend Sacha, Lola Jost, the retired superintendent is back to business, soon assisted by her inseparable American sidekick, Ingrid Diesel. But the road that will take them to the “Mars case” to the Aerolix terrorist attack is long… Dominique Sylvain is definitively one of the raising French crime talents: “a real writer and a storytelling genius” to quote Christopher MacLehose from an article of The Independent. 24 Fiction Represented in Selected Territories 2 Seas Agency – London Book Fair 2014 THE ORANGE GROVE – Larry Tremblay Literary Fiction | French | L’Autre agence/Alto | 169 pp. | October 2013 2 Seas Represents: English (USA), Dutch, Danish, Finnish, Icelandic, Norwegian and Swedish rights. Sold: English (USA & UK, Milkweed Editions). Somewhere in the Middle East, twin brothers have lived peacefully under the shade of the orange trees until, one day, an explosive crosses the sky, killing their grandparents. The horrors of war seize hold of their childhood and crush their destiny. Men come to take vengeance for the blood that has been shed. One of the brothers must wear an explosive belt over the mountains and into a refugee camp. Who will be the chosen one? A novel that is both timeless and relevant to current times, The Orange Grove possesses the brute force of the great tragedies and the lyricism of desert legends. At the crossroads of the universes of Wajdi Mouawad (Scorched) and Khaled Hosseini (The Kite Runner), Larry Tremblay, one of Quebec’s most famous playwrights, hits a milestone and strikes right at the heart, leaving the reader to distinguish the pure souls from the deceitful, and the zealots from the heroes. EXTREME FLIRTING – Nora Bernstein Women’s fiction | German | Thiele Verlag | 292 pp. | March 2014 2 Seas Represents: World English rights. Thelma and Louise meet Nick Hornby! The funniest screwball comedy of the season. Thirty-‐two-‐year-‐old Maya already has enough problems of her own when her rich suburbanite friend Stella lands on her doorstep with a 10-‐piece Louis Vuitton luggage set. Having recently broken up with her former boss, who has returned to the safe haven of his marriage and left her in the lurch with a far too expensive apartment and a mongrel called Gonzo, Maya is just managing to keep her head above water by means of two part-‐time jobs and a well-‐heeled tenant… YOUR NAME AFTER THE RAIN – Victoria Alvarez Historical Fiction | Spanish | Ella Sher Agency/Lumen | 584 pp. | February 2014 2 Seas Represents: Dutch and English (NA) rights English sample available January 1903. Professor Quills, a brilliant and withdrawn scientist, returns to his home in Oxford having attended a conference in London; Oliver Saunders, young and diligent, works is his tiny garret at Balliol College, surrounded by dictionaries and Gothic novels; Lionel Lennox, who loves the good life and easy women, is in Egypt, ready to desecrate the ancient grave of a princess to steal a relic of great value. The men have little in common but an interest in a new science that explores the afterlife... Soon, their desire to know what lies beyond will take them to Ireland, a land of legends, where stones have a story to tell and the sound of rain mingles with the weeping of women. 25 Fiction Represented in Selected Territories 2 Seas Agency – London Book Fair 2014 FATHERS, SONS & PRIMATES – Jon Bilbao Literary Fiction | Spanish | Ella Sher Agency/Salto de Página | 176 pp. | 2013 2 Seas Represents: Dutch rights – Sold: World English (Hispabooks)
Life has not been as Joanes expected. When he was studying Engineering everybody was wishing him a brilliant future, but this has not come true. His company is about to go bankrupt. But things could change thanks to an important agreement. Under these circumstances, with the deal about to be closed, the last thing Joanes wants is to travel to Mexico to assist with his father-‐in-‐law’s wedding. Once in Rivera Maya, a hurricane alert forces them to leave the hotel and go inland to be safe. Jon Bilbao’s wonderful literary career brilliantly reaffirms itself with this book, a perfect example of the unwritten laws of writing a novella. A close and complete work, intriguing and exciting. Nothing is in excess and nothing is missing. —Lluís Satorras, El País, Babelia THAT’S WHAT THEY SAY – Jenn Diaz Literary Fiction | Spanish | Ella Sher Agency/Lumen | 164 pp. | March 2014 2 Seas Represents: Dutch rights “The day I turned eleven, they killed my father… The word murder stuck into my head like those big silly flies that come inside the house and do not know how to get out” Mariela is about to blow the candles on her cake when she suddenly hears a shot. Then, there is just the silence of her mother and some confuse words from her grandmother, when she tries, stubbornly, to understand who killed her father and why. The memories of the Civil War are still around the village. Mariela, that skinny girl, not a child anymore but not yet a woman, step into the adults’ world sneaking a look, listening behind closed doors, licking the stones of the river like they were candies. We slowly discover, side by side with her, the gaps of every life and the fatigue of having a birthday in a world where everything is just an expression, because truth hurts too much. THE REMNANTS – Rafael Cardoso Literary Fiction | English | VBM Agency/Companhia das Letras | approx. 450 pp. | March 2015 2 Seas Represents: Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, and Finnish rights. Sold: Germany (Fischer) – Full manuscript in English available. History and fiction intertwine in the tale of Hugo Simon, Jewish banker, influential art collector, socialist politician and a leading light of Weimar Germany, declared enemy of the State in 1933, after Hitler’s rise to Power. Fleeing initially to Paris, Simon was forced to seek refuge in South America after the fall of France in 1941. The untold story of his exile in Brazil, where his path crossed with other famous exiles such as Stefan Zweig and Georges Bernanos, provides a unique and fresh perspective on the events of the Second World War. From the authoritarian regime of Vargas in the 1940s to the military dictatorship of the 1960s, the specter of fascism looms in the distance as Simon, his wife Gertrud, their two daughters, their artist and adventurer son-‐in-‐law, and their grandson, all face the challenge of carving out a new life from the ruins of the one left behind. The story will get to contemporary times when some precious art collected by Simon, which financed his escape, starts being recovered by his great grandchildren, but not the renowned The Scream by Edvard Munch, recently bought by a millionaire for the Moma for record price. Authored by Simon’s greatgrandson, this is a veritable family saga over three generations, shedding light on the great 20th-‐century theme of individuals struggling to maintain their identities in the face of adversity. 26 Fiction Represented in Selected Territories 2 Seas Agency – London Book Fair 2014 ANTI-‐THERAPIES – Jacques Fux Literary Fiction | Brazilian Portuguese | VBM Agency/Scriptum | 176 pp. | 2012 2 Seas Represents: Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, and Finnish rights. Complete English translation available Winner of Prêmio São Paulo de Literatura, one of the most prestigious literary awards in Brazil. To the jury of the São Paulo Prize, Fux is a “major revelation” with his “dilacerating prose”. He received the prize awarded to a first novel by an author under 40 years old for “his dramatic intensity, for his cunning eye and the poetic prose he develops for the sake of his narrative.” Anti-‐Therapies is a contemporary dialogue between history and literature. The main character narrates his life story using hidden literary references to tell about him and his memories. Conscious of Portnoy’s Complaint and Georges Perec constraints, the author uses short sentences to awaken the reader to images, sensations, and questions. PERFECT DAYS – Raphael Montes Thriller | Brazilian Portuguese | VBM Agency/Companhia das Letras | 280 pp. | March 2014 2 Seas Represents: Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, and Finnish rights. Sold: English (Penguin US) -‐ English sample available. Téo is a young medical student who divides his time between taking care of his paraplegic mother and dissecting cadavers in Anatomy classes – the moment he feels happiest. When he meets Clarice, he becomes obsessed with her and begins to stalk her. He discovers that Clarice dreams of being a scriptwriter and is writing a road movie named Perfect Days about three female friends who set out on a car trip throughout Brazil. When he tries to approach her, Teo is rebuffed and, driven to extremes, kidnaps her. Clarice is sedated an placed in the passenger seat of his car, and a journey around the country begins – the same as the characters in her script. Raphael Montes is one of the most brilliant young novelists I’ve encountered. He is certain to redefine Brazilian crime fiction and to emerge as a figure on the world literary scene. —Scott Turow 27 Non-‐Fiction Represented in Selected Territories 2 Seas Agency – London Book Fair 2014 DRONE WARFARE – Medea Benjamin Non-‐Fiction | English | OR Books | 262 pp. | May 2012 2 Seas Represents: Dutch, French, Danish, Finnish, Icelandic, Norwegian and Swedish rights Sold: Germany, Arabic, India -‐ Foreword by Barbara Ehrenreich Weeks after the 2002 American invasion of Afghanistan, Medea Benjamin visited that country. There, on the ground, talking with victims of the strikes, she learned the reality behind the “precision bombs” on which U.S. forces were becoming increasingly reliant. Now, with the use of drones escalating at a meteoric pace, Benjamin has written this book as a call to action: “It is meant to wake a sleeping public,” she writes, “lulled into thinking that drones are good, that targeted killings are making us safer.” Drone Warfare is a comprehensive look at the growing menace of robotic warfare, with an extensive analysis of who is producing the drones, where they are being used, who “pilots” these unmanned planes, who are the victims and what are the legal and moral implications. In vivid, readable style, the book also looks at what activists, lawyers and scientists are doing to ground the drones, and ways to move forward. TECHNOCREEP – Thomas P. Keenan Technology/Current Affairs | English | OR Books | 224 pp. | April 2014 2 Seas Represents: Dutch, French, Danish, Finnish, Icelandic, Norwegian and Swedish rights “Technology is rapidly moving into our bodies,” writes cyber expert Keenan, “and this book gives a chilling look ahead into where that road may lead us – on a one way trip to the total surrender of privacy and the commoditization of intimacy.” Here is the definitive dissection of privacy-‐eroding and life-‐invading technologies, coming at you from governments, corporations, and the person next door. One of the world’s top computer security experts, Keenan helped the Canadian government write its computer crime laws in 1983, and co-‐wrote the award-‐winning CBC series on cybercrime, “Crimes of the Future.” In 2013, he won the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council’s annual award for science promotion. Includes a special chapter on how to “de-‐creep” your digital profile: how to throw governments and corporations off your cyberscent! GLOBAL CHORUS – Todd MacLean (ed.) Environment | English | The Rights Factory/Rocky Mountain Books | September 2014 2 Seas Represents: Dutch and French rights (excl. Canada). Global Chorus is an environmental anthology comprised of 365 individual contributions from some of the world’s most renowned environmental leaders who have come together to give their honest opinion on the fate of the planet and whether or not there is still indeed hope for a healthy and reciprocal relationship with our planet earth. Contributors include environmentalists such as David Suzuki, Paul Hawken and Jane Goodall; scientists such as Stephen Hawking and Edward O. Wilson; celebrities such as Robert Redford, and Bono; humanitarians such as Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu; political figures such as Mikhail Gorbachev, Prince Charles and Elizabeth May; writers like Dave Eggers and Eric Schlosser; and spiritual leaders like The Dalai Lama, Eckhart Tolle, and Thich Nhat Hanh. 28 Non-‐Fiction Represented in Selected Territories 2 Seas Agency – London Book Fair 2014 CREDITOCRACY AND THE CASE FOR DEBT REFUSAL – Andrew Ross Current Affairs | English | OR Books | 220 pp. | February 2014 2 Seas Represents: Dutch, French, Danish, Finnish, Icelandic, Norwegian and Swedish rights It seems like pretty much everybody – homeowners, students, those who are ill and without health insurance, and, of course, credit card holders – is up to their neck in debt that can never be repaid. The major banks are bigger and more profitable than before the 2008 crash, and legislators are all but powerless to bring them to heel. In this forceful, eye-‐opening survey, Andrew Ross contends that we are in the cruel grip of a creditocracy – where the finance industry commandeers our elected governments and where the citizenry have to take out loans to meet their basic needs. Following in the ancient tradition of the jubilee, activists have had some success in repudiating the debts of developing countries. The time is ripe, Ross argues, for a debtors’ movement to use the same kinds of moral and legal arguments to bring relief to household debtors in the North. After examining the varieties of lending that have contributed to the crisis, Ross suggests ways of lifting the burden of illegitimate debts from our backs. Just as important, Creditocracy outlines the kind of alternative economy we need to replace a predatory debt-‐money system that only benefits the 1%. Andrew Ross is the very model for a scholar-‐activist, and Creditocracy, his latest book, is as compelling as it is important. Let’s hope this makes a difference in the world. It really should. —David Graeber, author of Debt: The First 5,000 Years 29

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