Curtis Brown Australia RIGHTS NEWSLETTER June 2013

Curtis Brown Australia June 2013 Rights Newsletter

Curtis Brown (Aust) Pty Ltd | Literary Agents PO Box 19 | Paddington NSW 2021 | Australia T: [61 2] 9361 6161 or 9331 5301 | F: [61 2] 9360 3935 E: annabel@curtisbrown.com.au | W: www.curtisbrown.com.au

1 Curtis Brown Australia / Rights Newsletter / www.curtisbrown.com.au

ADULT BRUMBY’S RUN Jennifer Scoullar (Michael Joseph, Penguin) Genre: Fiction Description: A blissful carefree summer beckons for Samantha Carmichael. But her world is turned on its head when she learns she's adopted – and that she has a twin sister, Charlie, who is critically ill.

While Charlie recovers in hospital, Sam offers to look after Brumby's Run, her sister's home high in the Victorian Alps. Within days city girl Sam finds herself breaking brumbies and running cattle with the help of handsome neighbour Drew Chandler, her sister's erstwhile boyfriend.

A daunting challenge soon becomes a wholehearted tree change as Sam begins to fall in love with Brumby's Run – and with Drew. But what will happen when Charlie comes back to claim what is rightfully hers?

Set among the hauntingly beautiful ghost gums and wild horses of the high country, BRUMBY'S RUN is a heartfelt, romantic novel about families and secrets, love and envy and, most especially, the bonds of sisterhood.

Rights Available: World English language (excl. ANZ), Audio, Film/TV Agent: Fran Moore fran@curtisbrown.com.au

HALF MOON BAY Helene Young (Michael Joseph, Penguin) Genre: Fiction Description: Ellie Wilding has been running from her past, but when the residents of Half Moon Bay call for help she knows it's finally time to return home. As an international photojournalist, she's used to violence in war zones, but she's shocked when it erupts in the sleepy hamlet on the north coast of New South Wales, threatening all she holds dear.

Battle-weary Nicholas Lawson walked away from his military career leaving unfinished business. In a coastal backwater, that decision returns to haunt him. He remembers all too vividly his last lethal assignment in Afghanistan when Ellie's sister, Nina, was shot and killed.

Ellie's been in his dreams ever since, even if she doesn't remember him...

As a storm rages and floodwaters rise, Ellie struggles to save her community. But who can she trust? Nick Lawson, the dangerously attractive stranger with secrets, or an old friend who's never let her down?

Rights Available: Film/TV Agent: Clare Forster claref@curtisbrown.com.au

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INTO MY ARMS Kylie Ladd (Allen & Unwin) Genre: Fiction Description: One day a woman meets a man and falls instantly and irrevocably in love with him. It hits her like a thunderbolt, and she has to have him, has to be with him, regardless of the cost, of the pain of breaking up her existing relationship. She has never felt more in synch-or in love-with anyone in her whole life. So this is how it feels, she thinks to herself, this is what real love feels like.

It's like that for him too; he wants her in a way he's never wanted anything or anyone before: obsessively, passionately, all-consumingly.

She has found her one true love, her soulmate, and he has found his.

What happens next will tear them apart and unleash havoc onto their worlds.

Rights Available: World English language (excl. ANZ), Translation, Film/TV Agent: Pippa Masson pippa@curtisbrown.com.au

LANI’S STORY Lani Brennan (HarperCollins) Genre: Non-fiction Description: ′How one person can endure so much and then rise and be the incredible woman that she is today is a testament to how change comes from within. Lani reminds us how the spirit can fight, no matter how broken and bruised, to make a difference in this world.′ Deborah Mailman A confronting and compelling account of a young woman′s journey from victim to survivor.

Raised in an urban Aboriginal community in Sydney, Lani had a childhood filled with love but alcoholism in her family left its scars. By thirteen, she was in a cycle of drug and alcohol abuse herself. Then a relationship with a young man from her community trapped her in a situation that she almost didn′t survive. Subjected to extreme physical and sexual violence at the hands of her partner, Lani finally knew she had only one choice: to leave him, or die.

She escaped and got sober. But the past wouldn′t leave her alone and she knew that to heal herself she had to speak out. Braving the police, the courts and her community, she stood up, determined to bring her abuser to justice.

Rights Available: Film/TV Agent: Tara Wynne tara@curtisbrown.com.au

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SPLITSVILLE Sean Condon (Momentum, Pan Macmillan) Genre: Fiction Description: A 21st century screwball comedy about a Manhattan company that breaks up relationships for people who can’t say the words “It’s over”.

Chester wants to leave his fiancee, Sara.

Holly’s looking for revenge after her boyfriend dumped her. And she’s starting to develop a crush on Charlie.

Charlie thinks it would be better for Sallie if she left the man in her life.

Thurston would love to have a baby with Lainey because she’s cute and because a TV executive thinks it’d be good for ratings.

But Marvin the Millionaire Meat King wants Thurston and Lainey busted up.

Lainey still has feelings for Charlie. Charlie’s falling for Adelaide. And Adelaide’s married to Rob. Luckily, there’s a corporation that can work all this out for everybody and send them to the happiest place on earth.

Welcome to SPLITSVILLE. Rights Available: Film/TV Agent: Clare Forster claref@curtisbrown.com.au

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CHILDREN’S JULIET NEARLY A VET Series (books 1-4) Rebecca Johnson (Puffin, Penguin) Genre: Children’s fiction Description: The best-selling new animal series for eight to ten year olds.

Hi! I'm Juliet. I'm ten years old. And I'm nearly a vet!

It's Spring and all the animals on Maisy's farm are having babies. Maisy says I can stay for a whole week and help out. There are chicks and ducklings hatching, orphan lambs to feed, and I can't wait for Bella to have her calf!

So many exciting adventures for a trainee vet!

Rights Available: Film/TV Agent: Clare Forster claref@curtisbrown.com.au

LULU BELL Series (books 1-6) Belinda Murrell (Random House) Genre: Children’s fiction Description: Lulu Bell is a fun-loving, sometimes bossy eight-year-old girl with long honey-coloured hair. She is the practical one in the family – which is fortunate because the rest of the family is slightly zany.

She has a sister called Rosie, who is six and loves wearing angel wings and sparkly shoes, and a three-year-old brother called Gus, who likes to wear his superhero suit, even in the bath.

Lulu's dad, Dr Bell, is a busy vet, while her mum is an artist. The Bell family have lots of pets, including two dogs called Asha and Jessie, two ginger cats called Pickles and Pepper, some ducklings, and a rabbit. Their home in Manly is right behind the vet hospital, so Lulu helps her dad care for injured and orphaned animals including a baby possum and, in book one, a naughty runaway pony.

Rights Available: Film/TV Agent: Pippa Masson pippa@curtisbrown.com.au

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MORTIFIED Martin Chatterton (Random House) Genre: Children’s fiction Description: For 10,000-year-old Mortimer DeVere and his sister, Agnetha, the answer is: a very long way indeed. As far as the DeVere children are concerned, they have eaten their last soggy sandwich, handed in their last piece of homework and avoided their last bully. But not if Trish Molyneux has anything to do with it.

In a desperate bid for freedom, Mort and Agnetha find themselves marooned in ancient Egypt, along with a grumpy Queen Victoria, a nosy writer who believes in fairies, a bloodthirsty crocodile and a tunnel full of zombie-mummies.

Suddenly, school isn't looking quite so bad.

Rights Available: Film/TV Agent: Tara Wynne tara@curtisbrown.com.au

TRULY TAN Series Jen Storer, illustrated by Claire Robertson (ABC Books, HarperCollins) Genre: Children’s fiction Description: Tan′s back. She′s bolder. She′s brighter. But is she ... jinxed?

Dear Diary I am writing to you with the aid of my Mail Order Moose Pen -- you know, the one that had edible antlers ...

Dad put an old tram in our back paddock. It has Follow Me Through the Shadow painted on it. Obviously that tram is full of secrets. I bet it is even haunted. The problem is I can′t get inside. I am banned.

Just as well I am a Secret Spy. Just as well I am cunning and ... stealthy. This could be my biggest case. This could make me famous. It is exciting to be me.

Rights Available: Film/TV Agent: Clare Forster claref@curtisbrown.com.au

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WORD HUNTERS Trilogy Nick Earls & Terry Whidbourne (UQP) Genre: Children’s fiction Description: From award-winning author Nick Earls and illustrator Terry Whidborne comes the third and final book in a mysterious, actionpacked series for the word nerd in us all.

The final battle is coming, the grey-robes are armed and dangerous and ready for war. Lexi, Al and their friends are ready too – or as ready as they can be. The journey so far has been harder than they imagined – they have fought ancient warriors, searched long-lost cities for clues, and trained night and day for the moment when they face their arch enemy. But will it be enough? Can they defeat him and save the English language forever?

In this amazing last adventure, Lexi and Al plunge back into the past to fight for English, and to discover that language isn’t the only thing worth fighting for.

Rights Available: World English language (excl. ANZ), Translation, Film/TV Agent: Pippa Masson pippa@curtisbrown.com.au

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