Gaby Chiappe's episode of period drama set in the first Victorian department store, THE PARADISE, transmits tonight on BBC1 at 9pm. The episode was directed by David Drury, and stars Sarah Lancashire, Joanna Vanderham (WHAT MAISIE KNEW), Elaine Cassidy, Emun Elliott (PROMETHEUS) and GAME OF THRONES' Patrick Malahide. The series was created by Bill Gallagher, and is loosely based on the novel by Zola. A new co-production deal between BBC America Worldwide and Masterpiece will see THE PARADISE coming to PBS.
HarperCollins closes major new deal with Barbara Erskine
Barbara Erskine has agreed a new two book deal with her longstanding UK publisher. Many of her novels have been major bestsellers in many languages, with the sales of her most recent title, RIVER OF DESTINY, seeing a huge growth in both physical and digital formats.
Her first novel LADY OF THE HAY has sold over 3 million copies world wide and celebrated its' twenty fifth anniversary in 2011 with an exclusive new story added to the new edition. HarperCollins has successfully published her titles since 1991 and the new deal will see her contracted to them to 2017.
Barbara Erskine said of the new deal, 'I am so pleased to be renewing my relationship with HarperCollins for another two books and am looking forward greatly to an exciting future with them.
Click here for more details.
Praise for Barbara Erskine:
'Barbara Erskine's storytelling talent is undeniable.' -- The Times
JOHN SATURNALL’S FEAST feature on The Leonard Lopate Late Show
During his two week book tour of America, Lawrence Norfolk sits down with Leonard Lopate to discuss the history of food in Britain and his most recent work JOHN SATURNALL'S FEAST.
Speaking about the cuisine of Britain during the 17th century, Norfolk relishes in the details of food preparation, saying that British food then was just as good as that of France and Italy.
JOHN SATURNALL'S FEAST tells the story of a young orphan who becomes a kitchen boy at a manor house and rises through the ranks to become the greatest cook of his time. It's a story of food, ancient myths, forbidden love and John's rise from outcast to hero through his sensuous cooking ability.
Click here to listen to the full segment.
Praise for JOHN SATURNALL'S FEAST:
'Dense in research and intellectual ambition…Norfolk's novels have always expanded their readers' vocabularies, and JOHN SATURNALL'S FEAST is no exception…What may come across as a novel indicting Protestantism's suppression of fun, sex and good food (it's Protestant groups who smash up the manor and lay waste to its subterranean kitchens where Saturnall finesses his culinary skills; it's civil war that destroys his supply lines and thwarts his surreptitious affair with Lucretia), is really a broader exploration of control.' -- Stuart Jeffries, The Guardian
'Norfolk, the author of ornate period novels, here uses his talent for detail to evoke the life of a cook of a seventeenth century British manor.' --The New Yorker
'Imaginative, quietly intricate and very well put together. All its strands are made to converge or mirror one another in a way that warms your heart.' -- Jonathan McAloon, The Spectator
'A feast…a groaning table laden with delicious and carefully made sweets …those happy to gobble up Norfolk's delectable fantasies of marchpane and spun sugar are in for a treat.' -- Diane Purkiss, The Independent
Hodder pre-empts THE THREE by Sarah Lotz in a major six-figure deal
Just days before Frankfurt, Hodder and Stoughton have had a major pre-emptive offer accepted for world rights in THE THREE and one other novel by Sarah Lotz. The offer was made on the strength of a 33 page partial manuscript less than a day after Oliver Munson had submitted to a select group of editors. Rights have so far been sold by Hodder in the US to Reagan Arthur Books, Editrice Nord in Italy and Fleuve Noir in France with auctions and offering underway in many other territories.
Oli says: "When Anne and Oliver turned up on our doorstep unannounced, I knew they meant business. There was a phenomenal amount of interest in the incredibly brief time THE THREE was on the market but the passion and commitment shown by the two of them quickly convinced both author and agent that Hodder was the right home for Sarah's terrifying imagination"
Hodder will publish THE THREE in February 2014:
The world is stunned when four commuter planes crash within hours of each other on different continents. Facing global panic, officials are under pressure to find the causes. With terrorist attacks and environmental factors ruled out, there doesn't appear to be a correlation between the crashes, except that in three of the four air disasters a child survivor is found in the wreckage.
Dubbed 'The Three' by the international press, the children all exhibit disturbing behavioural problems, presumably caused by the horror they lived through and the unrelenting press attention. This attention becomes more than just intrusive when a rapture cult led by a charismatic evangelical minister insists that the survivors are three of the four harbingers of the apocalypse. The Three are forced to go into hiding, but as the children's behaviour becomes increasingly disturbing, even their guardians begin to question their miraculous survival...
Sarah Lotz is a screenwriter and novelist who has written horror books under the name S L Grey with author Louis Greenberg, and a YA zombie series with her daughter, Savannah, under the pseudonym Lily Herne.
Henrietta Rose-Innes is the Runner-Up in the BBC International Short Story Award
South African writer Henrietta Rose-Innes was awarded the £2,500 Runner Up prize for her short story 'Sanctuary' at the BBC International Short Story Awards on 2 October. The prize was won by Bulgarian writer Miroslav Penkov.
According to the BBC, 'Henrietta Rose-Innes' story 'Sanctuary' is a subtle but powerful account of a nostalgic trip back to a childhood haunt in the South African bush. The narrator's encounter with another family explores the experience of domestic violence and its consequences.'
Henrietta is the author of the short story collection HOMING. She is the winner of the Caine Prize for African Writing 2008 (for which she was shortlisted in 2007) and the HSBC / PEN Short Story Prize 2007. Her work is included in the Granta Book of the African Short Story (2011) and McSweeney's Best American Non-Required Reading 2011, edited by Dave Eggers.
Henrietta's most recent novel NINEVEH has been shortlisted for the Sunday Times Fiction Prize and the M-Net Prize 2012. She is currently working on a new title THE GREEN LION.
We are delighted with her success and the recognition of this prestigious prize.
Click here to read more from the BBC.
Click here to read more from the Booktrade.
See here for more on Henrietta:
http://www.henriettarose-innes.com/about.php
Praise for Henrietta Rose-Innes:
'Henrietta Rose-Innes is a master of the beautifully thought-out metaphor. Her prose is elegant and liquid.' -- Cape Times
'Rose-Innes is a writer almost in the Virginia Woolf mould - lateral of mind and poetic in her style of narration.' -- Leon de Kock, Sunday Times
'One of South Africa's most renowned and most exciting emerging voices.' -- Carol Brammage, The Witness
'Rose-Innes writes like a virtuoso; each word is as carefully placed as in a poem.' --Margot Pakendorf, Rapport