Curtis Brown Australia RIGHTS NEWSLETTER October 2013 by Curtis Brown Australia

Curtis Brown Australia October 2013 Rights Newsletter

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

ADULT THE PECULIAR CASE OF THE ELECTRIC CONSTABLE A True Tale of Passion, Poison and Pursuit Carol Baxter (Oneworld Publications) Genre: Non Fiction Description: John Tawell was a sincere Quaker but a sinning one. Convicted of forgery, he was transported to Sydney, where he opened Australia’s first retail pharmacy and made a fortune. When he returned home to England after fifteen years, he thought he would be welcomed; instead he was shunned. Then on New Year’s Day 1845 Tawell boarded the 7:42 pm train to London Paddington. Soon, men arrived chasing a suspected murderer – but the 7:42 had departed. The Great Western Railway was experimenting with a new-fangled device, the electric telegraph, so a message was sent: a ‘KWAKER’ man was on the run. The trail became a sensation, involving no apparent weapon, much innuendo, and a pious man desperate to save his reputation – and would usher in the modern communication age. Told with narrative verve and rich in historical research, this is a delicious true tale of murder and scientific revolution in Victorian England. Rights Available: Translation, Film/TV Agent: Tara Wynne tara@curtisbrown.com.au

THE BLUE DUCKS Darren Robertson & Mark Labrooy (Plum/Pan Macmillan) Genre: Non Fiction Description: Darren Robertson and Mark LaBrooy are the faces of a new, grassroots approach to cooking – delicious food based on an ethos of community, sustainability and growing-it-local. Professional chefs, mad surfers, keen gardeners and foragers, Darren and Mark live by this philosophy in everything they do – when cooking in their café, Three Blue Ducks, and in their garden, which is home to a rambling vegetable patch and four very happy chickens. In their first book, Darren and Mark share more than 80 of their most enticing recipes, using eggs direct from their ‘Chook Mahal’, honey from their own bees, local meat and seafood, and loads of herbs and veggies grown in the garden. Enjoy mouthwatering Sticky Pork Ribs, Barbecued Calamari, Spiced Chicken in a Brown Paper Bag, Home-Toasted Muesli, Salted Caramel Banana muffins ... and meltingly good Char-grilled Peaches with Vanilla & Rosemary Ice Cream. This is a cookbook full of fresh ingredients and dishes bursting with flavour; a tribute to our breathtaking coastal landscape; and an inspiring reminder of the joys of connecting with the land, whether it be growing your own veggies, keeping chickens or making more ethical food choices. The Blue Ducks will have you cooking up the most delicious and seasonal delights, and looking at the food we eat in a completely new way. Rights Available: Film/TV, Audio Agent: Tara Wynne tara@curtisbrown.com.au 2 Curtis Brown Australia / Rights Newsletter / www.curtisbrown.com.au

UNDERSTANDING ALZHEIMER’S Prof. Ralph Martins (Pan Macmillan) Genre: Non Fiction Description: A practical guide for the hundreds of thousands of people dealing with this extremely challenging condition. Each week, 1500 Australians are diagnosed with Alzheimer’s or a dementia-related illness. This timely book answers many of the common questions asked by carers, patients and the public, including:  How is Alzheimer’s diagnosed?  Is it possible to prevent and/or slow down the disease?  What are the risk factors for contracting Alzheimer’s?  What are the best current treatments, and what is the research telling us about new treatments?  How can diet, physical activity and mental exercise be used to help manage the disease?  What are the emotional and legal issues around caring for someone with Alzheimer’s? Drawing on some of Australia’s top experts in the field, and containing numerous personal stories and a section on where to get help, this guide offers the best and latest medical information as well as compassionate and reassuring advice for those whose lives are affected by Alzheimer’s. Rights Available: World (excl ANZ), Audio, Film/TV Agent: Fiona Inglis fiona@curtisbrown.com.au

SUNSET RIDGE Nicole Alexander (Bantam Australia, Random House) Genre: Fiction Description: A story of bravery and misadventure, of intolerance and friendship – and most of all, a story of three young men who went to war and fought for love. Although Madeleine has grown up in the shadow of her grandfather, the renowned artist David Harrow, she knows little about him. For David died long before she was born, and his paintings sold off to save the family property, Sunset Ridge. Now, decades on, with the possibility of a retrospective of David’s work, Madeleine races to unravel the remarkable life of her grandfather, a veteran of the Great War, unaware that his legacy extends far beyond the boundaries of the family property… It’s 1916, and as Europe descends further into bloodshed, three Queensland brothers – Thaddeus, Luther and David Harrow – choose freedom over their restricted lives at Sunset Ridge. A ‘freedom’ that sees them bound for the hell of the trenches. With the world on fire around them, the brothers bear witness to both remarkable courage and shocking carnage. But they also come to understand the healing power of love – love for their comrades, love for each other, and love for the young, highly spirited girl they left back home… Rights Available: World (excl ANZ), Film/TV, Audio Agent: Tara Wynne tara@curtisbrown.com.au

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INDELIBLE INK Fiona McGregor (Scribe Publications) Genre: Non Fiction Description: ‘This is a superb book by one of our finest writers’ Christos Tsiolkas Marie King is fifty-nine, recently divorced, and has lived a rather conventional life on Sydney’s affluent north shore. Now her three children have moved out, the family home is to be sold, and with it will go her beloved garden. On a drunken whim, Marie gets a tattoo – an act that gives way to an unexpected friendship with her tattoo artist, Rhys. Before long, Rhys has introduced Marie to a side of the city that clashes with her staid northshore milieu. Her children are mortified by their mother’s transformation, but have their own challenges to deal with: workplace politics; love affairs old and new; and, of course, the real-estate market. Written with Fiona McGregor’s incisive wit and keen eye, Indelible Ink uses one family as a microcosm for the changes operating in society at large. In its piercing examination of the way we live now, it is truly a novel for our times. Rights Available: Translation, Film/TV Agent: Fran Moore fran@curtisbrown.com.au

RETURN TO ME Mae Archer (Momentum Books) Genre: Fiction Description: After a fatal car accident Lana Walters is transported to a parallel world for a second chance with her dead husband. But her husband and the world itself are very different to her own. In her other life, Lana was married to Frank, who had a terminal heart condition and died at thirty. In this new world, she is Alannah Walker, and her husband is Tristan, a man who had a heart operation as a child. But Tristan is nothing like Frank. Born Frank Walters, Tristan hides his past under a new name. His relationship with his wife, Alannah, is fraught with anger. But even though Alannah has seemed like a different person since the car accident, lessons of the past have taught him not to trust too easily Will Tristan and Lana learn from their past mistakes? Does this new life give them a second chance at love? Rights Available: Film/TV Agent: Pippa Masson pippa@curtisbrown.com.au

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DARKENING SKIES Bronwyn Parry (Hachette Australia) Genre: Fiction Description: Deadly secrets hidden for years in a small country town are finally revealed. Investigative journalist Jenn Barrett never intended to return to Dungirri, the small town she escaped as a teenager. But startling revelations about local man Mark Strelitz have reopened the investigation into the accident that killed Jenn’s cousin, Paula, and she is determined to find out what really happened. For eighteen years, a gap in Mark’s memory has concealed the facts – that he was driving when Paula died and a corrupt police investigation sent an innocent man to prison. Mark has finally learnt enough of the truth to know he has to set the record straight. As Jenn and Mark start to ask questions, evidence is destroyed and witnesses murdered. Someone wants the past to remain buried and anyone probing into it to be stopped – permanently. Mark and Jenn’s discovery will shock the whole town – but only if they live long enough to reveal it. Rights Available: Film/TV Agent: Clare Forster claref@curtisbrown.com.au

BLOOD SECRET Jaye Ford (Random House Australia) Genre: Fiction Description: She shouldn’t have stayed. Now she can’t leave… Nothing ever happens in Haven Bay, which is why Renée Carter stayed longer than she should – and why she thought it was safe to stop running for a while. When Max Tully, the man she loves and the reason she stayed, disappears after a party, Rennie wants to believe it’s the obvious, that the out-of-control kid who tried to run them down is responsible – and nothing to do with the violence of her past. Police suspicions, though, fall on Max himself. Money is missing and he’s gone – it can’t be a coincidence. Max Tully is alone, injured and in pitch darkness. He doesn’t know where he is or why. All he remembers is the last time he was in a place like this – eight years ago when he was crushed under rock in a mining accident. But this time he can move and he’s not lying around to wait for death. As he crawls, concussed and in pain, memories begin to surface – the kind that make him fear for who he’s left behind. The police are looking in the wrong places, they’re asking the wrong questions. Max may not be who he seemed but there are reasons for hiding the truth – and Rennie knows it doesn’t make you a criminal. She has a secret, one she’s run from all her life – one she’s terrified has found her again … and the man she loves. Rights Available: World (excl ANZ and Germany), Film/TV, Audio Agent: Clare Forster claref@curtisbrown.com.au

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THE PERFECT WIFE Katherine Scholes (Penguin Australia) Genre: Fiction Description: From the internationally bestselling author – over two million books sold worldwide. Kitty Hamilton arrives in Tanganyika with high hopes for her new life. An exciting adventure halfway across the world could be just what she and Theo need to recover from the scandal that almost tore them apart. She is determined to play the role of the perfect wife, but her dreams soon begin to unravel. Theo is distracted with his important British government post, and while Kitty had imagined doing valuable work of her own, she finds that choosing the right frock to wear to the club is the biggest challenge of her day. In this wild and foreign land, where very different powers prevail, the head can’t always rule the heart. As old wounds resurface and new passions ignite, Kitty and Theo confront emotions that push them beyond the boundaries of all that they know and believe in. The Perfect Wife is a breathtaking story about the struggle between duty and desire, jealousy and love, commitment and freedom. And the need to follow the call of your heart, wherever it may lead you… Rights Available: World (excl ANZ, France and Germany), Film/TV, Audio Agent: Fiona Inglis fiona@curtisbrown.com.au

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YOUNG ADULT PRETTY GIRL JC Burke (Random House Australia) Genre: YA Fiction Description: One girl’s dead. One’s in hospital. And one has a secret. Paige, Sarah, Jess and Tallulah were best friends at school. Now they’ve begun university and are living together at college, but it’s not turning out like it’s meant to. Tallulah’s partying too hard, Jess is being secretive, Paige is embarrassing herself with an unrequited crush, and Sarah’s struggling to keep up with her wealthier friends. One night, Sarah saves Paige from drowning in the university swimming pool. Paige can’t remember why she was there, and Sarah’s too afraid to say what she thought she saw. Then Jess’s body is found outside the college laundry. It’s not until Sarah meets the gorgeous and charming Jonny that she can tell someone her suspicions. But what really did happen that night at the pool? And what connects Paige’s accident with Jess’s death? As Paige starts to piece together her memories, the most terrifying question becomes clear: could it be happening again? Rights Available: Audio, Film/TV Agent: Tara Wynne tara@curtisbrown.com.au

FAIRYTALES FOR WILDE GIRLS Allyse Near (Random House Australia) Genre: YA Fiction Description: A deliciously dark bubblegum-gothic fairytale from a stunning new Australian talent. ‘He’s gone the same way as those little birds that bothered me with their awful songs! And you will too, you and your horrible heart-music, because you won’t stay out of my woods!’ There’s a dead girl in a birdcage in the woods. That’s not unusual. Isola Wilde sees a lot of things other people don’t. But when the girl appears at Isola’s window, her every word a threat, Isola needs help. Her real-life friends – Grape, James and new boy Edgar – make her forget for a while. And her brother-princes – magical creatures seemingly lifted from the pages of the French fairytales Isola idolises – will protect her with all the fierce love they possess. It may not be enough. Isola needs to uncover the truth behind the dead girl’s demise … before the ghost steals Isola’s last breath. Rights Available: World (excl ANZ and Russia), Film/TV, Audio Agent: Pippa Masson pippa@curtisbrown.com.au

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CHILDREN’S THE LAST THIRTEEN BOOK ONE: THIRTEEN James Phelan (Scholastic Australia) Genre: Children’s fiction Description: 13 books. 13 nightmares. 1 destiny. Are you one of them? I click my fingers and everybody dies. Sam wakes from his nightmare to discover the terrifying reality. It will come true. Kidnapped from school and finding out his parents aren’t who he thinks they are, Sam is suddenly running from danger at every turn. Nothing will ever be the same again. With his life and identity shattered, Sam’s salvation is tied to an ancient prophecy. He is in the final battle to save the world, up against an enemy plotting to destroy us all. He alone can find the last 13. The first book of The Last Thirteen series, where each serialised installment will introduce a new character to work with our protagonist, a new international setting, and everincreasing revelations, tensions, twists and turns as our thirteen teens must battle it out for the control of our dream world. Rights Available: Film/TV Agent: Pippa Masson pippa@curtisbrown.com.au

THE 39-STOREY TREEHOUSE Andy Griffiths & Terry Denton (Pan Macmillan Australia) Genre: Children’s fiction Description: Join Andy and Terry in their astonishing 39-storey treehouse! Jump on the world’s highest trampoline, toast marshmallows in an active volcano, swim in the chocolate waterfall, pat baby dinosaurs, go head-to-trunk with the Trunkinator, break out your best moves on the dance floor, fly in a jet-propelled swivel chair, ride a terrifying rollercoaster and meet Professor Stupido, the world’s greatest UNinventor. Well, what are you waiting for? Come on up!

Rights Available: UK, Translation, Film/TV Agent: Fiona Inglis fiona@curtisbrown.com.au

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