Allison & Busby announce acquisition of Julian Stockwin's THE CRAKYS OF WAR

Allison & Busby are pleased to announce the acquisition of a new historical novel from Julian Stockwin, THE CRAKYS OF WAR.

This is the second in a sequence of stand‐alone novels that will dramatise pivotal historical discoveries. THE SILK TREE, Julian Stockwin’s first stand‐alone novel, was published by Allison & Busby in November 2014. Publishing Director Susie Dunlop bought UK + Commonwealth rights (excluding Canada) to this much‐anticipated follow‐up from Carole Blake at Blake Friedmann.

THE CRAKYS OF WAR opens with a returned envoy to China meeting an English scholar in Oxford in the mid 13th century to share a deadly secret. They vow that the knowledge of gunpowder must die with them as the consequences otherwise are too terrible to contemplate.  The novel tells the story of its re‐discovery, one man's obsession with the powder of death, and Edward III’s determination to use it to his advantage.  He does so at the Battle of Crecy, the first full-scale battle at which guns are deployed in the field.  The nature of warfare is changed forever, and the world hears the death-knell of Knightly chivalry.

Susie Dunlop said: ‘We have been honoured to work with an author of Julian’s calibre and professionalism, and I am thrilled we will have a second novel in 2016.  Working closely with Julian, his wife Kathy and agent Carole Blake, we look forward to building on our success with THE SILK TREE, and bringing this new book to Julian’s legions of fans’

Julian Stockwin said: ‘It is a pleasure to be working with the talented team at Allison & Busby again – on this exciting new perspective on the brutal mediaeval world of war from which emerged the modern age.’

Carole Blake said: ‘I was delighted with the commitment that Allison & Busby brought to their publishing of THE SILK TREE (and to the production values of the beautiful finished book) so am very happy to have another deal with them.’

 

For further information please contact Susie Dunlop: susie@allisonandbusby.com

For rights information please contact Carole Blake: carole@blakefriedmann.co.uk

Clare Best’s THE MISSING LIST is a finalist for the Mslexia Memoir Prize

Clare Best’s brilliant and moving memoir THE MISSING LIST has been selected as one of three finalists for the 2015 Mslexia Memoir Prize. The prize is worth £5,000 and is for previously unpublished women memoirists. The prize was judged by Julie Myerson (memoirist, novelist), Jenny Brown (literary agent) and Jane Martinson (Women's Editor, Guardian). The winners were announced in the March issue of Mslexia.

Andrew O'Hagan describes the memoir as ‘A tapestry of time – brightly coloured, beautifully orchestrated, emotionally pure.’

Clare Best has worked as a bookbinder, a bookseller, an editor and a Creative Writing teacher. She is currently Writer in Residence at the University of Brighton. Clare is a prize-winning poet and the author of three poetry publications – TREASURE GROUND (HappenStance 2009), BREASTLESS (Pighog 2011) and EXCISIONS (Waterloo 2011) which was shortlisted for the Seamus Heaney Centre Prize 2012.

Praise for Clare Best:

‘Clare Best writes of the things of the world, and of the moments in our lives, as if they bear within them secrets of mortality that words will never quite have the power to reveal. She writes with scruple and clarity, listening always for the unsaid and the unsayable, watching for the passage of flame into darkness.’ – Michael Hulse

 ‘Clare Best’s poetry dazzles with the clarity of its chiseled phrases and its measured form. Perhaps the confessional narrative it tells, of encounters with mortality through the loss of her parents and her own preventive double mastectomy, warrants a desire for such poetic control.’ - Eva C. Karpinski, Canadian Woman Studies/les cahiers de la femme

ORION SIGNS NEW DEAL WITH LIZ FENWICK

The Orion Publishing Group is delighted to announce the acquisition of two new novels by author Liz Fenwick. Kate Mills, Publishing Director at Orion Fiction bought UK and Commonwealth rights from Carole Blake for a good five-figure advance. THE RETURNING TIDE plus one untitled novel, will be published in 2016 and 2017 respectively.

Kate said: ‘Liz Fenwick’s novels capture all the mystery and romance of Cornwall and I’m delighted that we will publish THE RETURNING TIDE next summer, and a further novel after that. She is building a loyal, eager readership and we look forward to growing it further with what promises to be a very exciting novel.’

Liz Fenwick said: ‘The team at Orion have been fantastic to work with and I'm thrilled this will continue for the next two books.’

Carole Blake said: ‘Liz and Orion have been a terrific team for the 3 books published so far. She’s recently delivered her strongest novel to date, UNDER A CORNISH SKY, so this is a great time to be renewing our contract with Orion, and the agency is looking forward to adding to the 11 languages she is sold to so far.’

Growing up in Boston, Liz discovered early on that her best friends could be books. While waiting on a place on a Masters degree, she moved to London to see if life looked different from the other side of the Atlantic. It did and she soon fell in love with an Englishman. Now happily married with three children, she spends as much time as possible at her home in Cornwall.

Liz’s new novel, UNDER A CORNISH SKY is published in June this year.

 

For more information please contact :

Gaby Young at Orion: gaby.young@orionbooks.co.uk

Carole Blake, at Blake Friedmann: carole@blakefriedmann.co.uk

Paperback Publication day for Barbara Erskine and Sheila O’Flanagan

Two fabulous books by Blake Friedmann authors are out in paperback today.

The paperback for THE DARKEST HOUR by Barbara Erskine is released today by HarperCollins with a stunning new look for the cover and including a picture section at the back containing photographs of Barbara’s father, a Spitfire pilot, whose wartime exploits she based the historical part of the novel upon . An epic tale of love and heartbreak set in World War II and the present, Lucy’s husband is killed in a bizarre car accident and a painting he was to have restored leads Lucy back to the life of the artist, Evie. Finding a painted-over figure of a WWII pilot behind Evie’s self-portrait, Lucy unravels the mystery of the two men in Evie’s life, and their relevance to Lucy’s own. Barbara Erskine is the author of 13 novels and 3 volumes of short stories.  Her first and bestselling novel LADY OF HAY, has been continuously in print for 30 years next year and is sold in 26 languages.

IF YOU WERE ME by Sheila O’Flanagan is published in paperback today by Headline. Stressful presentations are part of a day’s work for Carlotta, but this one was in 2 languages. Missing her plane home wasn’t part of the plan, and missing her future mother-in-law’s birthday party is just the first of a sequence of events that turns her emotional and work life upside down.  Headline have sold more than 6 million books by Sheila, and her next novel, MY MOTHER’S SECRET, is published in July.  It will be Sheila’s 21st novel. She has also published 3 volumes of short stories