Lake Union acquires three books from bestselling novelist Dani Atkins

Photo credit: Hannah Couzens

Lake Union, part of Amazon Publishing, will publish three books, including ALWAYS YOU AND ME in 2025, from the RNA Romance Novel of the Year winner, Dani Atkins. Editor Victoria Pepe acquired World English Rights from Kate Burke at Blake Friedmann Literary Agency.

Just before Lily’s husband Adam dies, he asks her to make one promise: to track down her old best friend and first love, Josh. But Josh and Lily parted on bad terms and, despite her love for Adam, she has no real desire to find Josh.

A year later and the weight of Adam’s promise weighs heavily on Lily. Finding Josh proves almost impossible and when they finally come face to face at Josh’s remote cabin, he’s less than welcoming.

As the two find themselves stranded in a snowstorm, Lily begins to question whether her love for Josh ever really went away. Could it be possible for her to love two men at once? Is their history too much to overcome? Or is Lily being given a second chance at happiness?

Dani said, ‘I’m incredibly excited to be joining Amazon and cannot wait to work with their brilliant team to bring my books to a larger audience.’

Victoria Pepe said, ‘I’ve laughed and cried working with Dani on ALWAYS YOU AND ME – an emotionally charged tear-jerker, perfect for fans of Jojo Moyes and Cecelia Ahern. I can’t wait for readers to discover the tangled lives of Lily, Adam and Josh, and to help bring Dani’s wonderful books to a wide audience.’

Kate Burke said, ‘I’m really excited for this new chapter in Dani’s publishing and to be working with the fabulous Amazon team.’

Devesh Kumar, Director at Amazon Books Europe said, ‘We’re honoured that Dani is joining the Lake Union family. She’s a wonderful writer and the whole team is really excited to get her books out into the world.’

About Dani Atkins

Based in Hertfordshire, Dani is an award-winning writer of ten novels. Her debut, FRACTURED, has been translated into twenty-three languages and has sold more than half a million copies. In 2022, A SKY FULL OF STARS won the Contemporary Romantic Novel Award at the RNA awards, and Dani previously won the Romantic Novel of the Year Award for THIS LOVE in 2018. Dani also won the 2023 Jackie Collins Romantic Thriller Award for SIX DAYS, taking her total of RNA Awards to four. Having previously worked as a secretary for organisations such as the BBC, books have always been her constant companions and have inspired her writing career.

 Praise for Dani Atkins

‘Dani Atkins is the undisputed queen of fiction that packs a huge emotional punch’ – Heat

‘Truly magnificent storytelling’ – Veronica Henry

‘Atkins writes with immediacy and compassion’ – Mail on Sunday

‘Emotionally powerful.’ – Publishers Weekly

‘Dani writes with heart and soul. Prepare to be moved’ – Alice Peterson

‘She’s one of my favourite writers. Always delivers.’ – Jenny O’Brien

 Follow Dani on X (previously Twitter) and Instagram.

Seven Dials to publish A MOTHER’S PROMISE, Renee Salt’s Holocaust survival story (written with Kate Thompson)

Orion imprint Seven Dials is set to publish the true-life story of Renee Salt, a ninety-five-year-old Holocaust survivor, on 13th February 2025 in Hardback, eBook and audio.

Beth Eynon, Editorial Director for Seven Dials, acquired UK & Commonwealth excluding Canadian rights from Kate Burke at Blake Friedmann in a pre-empt. US rights have also sold to Alcove Press and Canadian rights at auction to Simon & Schuster.

Born Rywka Ruchla Berkowicz in Poland in 1929, Renee was just ten years old when World War II brought horror to her doorstep. In A MOTHER’S PROMISE, Renee tells her story from invasion to liberation, as she was moved from ghetto to camp, with one constant – her mother by her side. Every day for six years, mother and daughter were tangled together in hell. From ghettos to slave labour, Auschwitz to Bergen-Belsen, Renee knows that she is only alive today because of her mother. Her memoir is a love letter to her mother, eighty years in the making, and the Research Center at Auschwitz–Birkenau State Museum has described it as ‘part of the legacy so graciously left for the next generation to come’.

Renee met journalist and bestselling author Kate Thompson on Kate’s podcast, From the Library With Love, and chose Kate to help her tell her story.

Renee Salt said: ‘Having a book published at ninety-five feels like a great achievement. Nearly eighty years since my liberation from Bergen-Belsen, a place that you can’t imagine even in your worst nightmares, I am finally telling my story in full. It has been a hard but rewarding experience. I had plenty of sleepless nights reliving it, but it was worth it to leave behind a permanent record of my experience of the Holocaust.’

Kate Thompson said: ‘Helping a Holocaust survivor to write their story comes with huge and heavy responsibility, but being with Renee is like looking into an abyss and finding a glimmer – a beautiful and vulnerable girl who survived against the odds and, eighty years on from her liberation, now needs to tell her story. Travelling to Poland and Germany to retrace Renee's footsteps only intensified my admiration for this remarkable woman.’

Agent Kate Burke said: ‘It’s such a privilege to be working on this project with Renee and Kate. I can’t wait for the fantastic Seven Dials team to bring Renee’s testimony to readers’.

Beth Eynon said: ‘I could not be more proud to be publishing Renee’s memoir here at Seven Dials. Working alongside Kate and Renee on sharing her story has been an honour, and I know readers will be captivated by her life story, and her mother’s courage.’

 About Renee Salt

Renee Salt is a ninety-five-year-old Holocaust survivor. Born Rywka Ruchla Berkowicz in Poland in 1929, she was just 10 years old when World War II brought horror to her doorstep. After surviving Auschwitz-Birkenau, Renee was liberated from Bergen-Belsen in 1945. After moving to Paris, Renee met her husband Charles, a member of the British Army, and part of the the liberating forces at Bergen-Belsen. They married in 1949 and lived in North London, having two children and five grandchildren.

 About Kate Thompson

Kate Thompson is a journalist and bestselling writer. As well as being passionate about capturing lost voices and untold social histories, Kate’s also a library campaigner. Her 100 libraries project celebrates the richness and complexity of librarians work and the vital role of libraries in our communities. Alongside her journalism and writing, Kate is also a podcaster and recently launched her own podcast, From the Library With Love.

 Visit Kate’s website.

Follow Kate on X (previously Twitter) and Instagram.

Bookouture snaps up new series from ‘East End Saga Queen’ Jean Fullerton

Bookouture has snapped up the first four novels in a brilliant new World War Two saga series from Jean Fullerton, bestselling author of the East End Ration Book series, seeing her move from Atlantic (Corvus). This exciting new series will follow the wartime lives, loves and heartbreaks of a group of four extraordinary young women, who join the WAAF and are stationed in the East End of London as barrage balloon operators. Publishing Executive Lizzie Brien acquired World English Language rights, including audio, from Kate Burke at the Blake Friedmann Literary Agency.

Jean Fullerton says, ‘I’m so thrilled to be joining Bookouture’s friendly, supportive and dynamic team so watch this space for more heart-felt authentic East End sagas.’

Lizzie Brien says, ‘As soon as I read Jean’s first synopsis, I knew I wanted to work with her to tell the stories of these incredible women. Jean’s saga fiction has such wonderful warmth and heart, and is rooted so deeply in the history of the people and places in the East End of London that she knows and loves so well. I couldn’t be more thrilled to be working with her on this very special series!’

Kate Burke says, ‘Jean is a legend in the saga genre and a brilliant storyteller. I’m very excited for this new chapter in her publishing.’

 The first in the series (title to be announced soon) will be published in May 2025.

 About Jean Fullerton

Jean was born and bred in the overcrowded streets surrounding London Docks where her family have lived since 1825. Being born within the sound of Bow Bells, she’s a true cockney who grew up in what was then the working-class dockland community in Wapping and Stepney, East London. All her published books are set in the streets and alleyways she roamed as a child.

Jean worked for 30 years as a community nurse in East London, starting as a staff nurse and finishing as a university lecturer in Health Studies at London South Bank University.

 Praise for Jean Fullerton

 ‘The queen of East End sagas’ – Elaine Everest

‘Warmth, humour and characters readers care about are Fullerton’s hallmarks.’ – Peterborough Evening Telegraph

 ‘A brilliant author who is not afraid of the truth’ – Geoffrey Harfield, Historical Novels Society

 Visit Jean’s website.

 Follow Jean on X (previously Twitter) and Instagram.

BFLA Open Week: Working on edits with your Agent

Written by Kate Burke

Every agent – and agency – is different and, ultimately, who you sign with has to be someone you click on a personal and professional level, and who you think will do the best by your writing and your career. Some agents work very closely editorially with clients and some don’t, but I’m not here to judge anyone! All I can say is that, as a former editor with a decade of experience working for several publishers, I do a lot of editorial work with my clients, particularly with debut writers, but this process can continue beyond that. This means working closely with them on several drafts of their novels before submitting them to publishers, helping them to shape outlines for future projects as well as brainstorming titles and pitch lines, and these are processes I really enjoy!

Whatever their style or experience, an agent should be hands on and work closely with you on your work. I remember what it was like, as an editor, to receive a submission from an agent – if it was a messy manuscript (both in terms of spelling and grammar, but also plot, character and pace), I could just tell that the agent hadn’t really worked on it and that really bothered me. Why hadn’t they taken the time to nurture and guide this writer? An agent should be your biggest advocate and what better way to present your work than to polish it and polish it until it’s editor-ready?

An example of working with a debut writer: once we’ve agreed that I’ll represent them, I will read their manuscript again and mark it up on screen with tracked changes. These changes could be comments about what I love or what’s working great along with all the things that might need a tweak or a bigger fix. In my email to that client, I will send them the marked-up Word document along with a summary of my main editorial concerns (these could be plot, pace, a certain character, some dialogue that doesn’t work, a scene that needs expanding etc) and then, once the author has processed my comments, we’ll have a call, Zoom or meeting to discuss tackling them and a timeframe for that. And the process continues until we’ve polished the manuscript enough that I think it’s ready for editors’ eyes! I will always do a final proofread on a manuscript before hitting the send button as I want the novel/proposal/outline to be as readable and polished as it can be.

While this sometimes rigorous (!) process might put the odd writer off, most writers who approach me for representation mention this close editorial eye and relationship as a positive, something they would like in an agent and I think it’s a vital part of developing a solid working relationship together. Agents have to sell projects with passion and, if we’ve worked for some time on a book, and we know it inside out, then we can do our best by that project. And the editorial work doesn’t stop with us – once you have an editor on board they will, most likely, ask you to do further edits on your book so I, personally, think it's best to be used to this process already so there are no curveballs further down the line!

Bestseller Paul Finch moves to Thomas & Mercer with two new gripping thrillers

Amazon Publishing’s Thomas & Mercer imprint has acquired two books from acclaimed author, Paul Finch. DEATH LIST and an untitled second novel were acquired from Senior Agent Kate Burke at Blake Friedmann.

Publishing in June 2025, DEATH LIST is a pacy and incisive thriller about a support group which brings together an ensemble of disgraced police officers on an idyllic but remote Hebridean island. However, it isn’t long before they all realise they’ve been brought there to be murdered.

Paul Finch is an ex-policeman and journalist turned bestselling author. He has written for The Bill and has written extensively in the horror, fantasy, and historical epic genres, including Doctor Who.

He is best known for his crime and thriller novels, of which there are twelve to date. He has previously been published by HarperCollins and Orion.

Paul Finch said: 'What can I say? I'm back on the crime thriller trail, and absolutely delighted. We're getting the ball rolling again with two ideas I'm in love with. Both have been smouldering away in the back of my mind for quite some time, and I'm massively grateful to Thomas & Mercer for agreeing to run with them.'

Editor at Thomas & Mercer, Kasim Mohammed, said: ‘Paul is a dream author to work with, with his brilliant pacing, twisty plots, and evocative writing. It’s a real honour to bring an author with Paul’s history to the Thomas & Mercer list, and I can’t wait for people to lose themselves in these incisive, gripping thrillers.’

Kate Burke at Blake Friedmann said: 'I'm delighted with Paul's move to Amazon - he's a thriller writer at the top of his game and I'm really excited about this new chapter of an already illustrious career!'

Mouncif Faqir from Amazon Books Europe said: ‘Paul Finch is an exceptional addition to Thomas & Mercer’s list. We are thrilled to be bringing DEATH LIST and a future novel to Amazon Publishing and we cannot wait for readers to discover his captivating thrillers.’

About Paul Finch

Paul’s crime debut, STALKERS, was a No. 1 ebook best seller in 2013 and introduced DS Mark ‘Heck’ Heckenburg. This was followed in July 2013 by the sequel, SACRIFICE – the most pre-ordered book in HarperCollins history.

In 2016 Paul introduced readers to DC Lucy Clayburn. STRANGERS, the first novel in the series, was an immediate success, reaching the top ten in the Sunday Times Bestseller list.

Paul’s first historical novel, USURPER, was published by Canelo in April 2023 and the next book, BATTLE LORD, followed in January 2024.

He lives in Lancashire, UK, with his wife Cathy and their two four legged companions, Buck and Buddy.

Praise for Paul Finch

‘Wonderfully dark…Finch is a born storyteller.’ – Peter James

‘Edge-of-the-seat reading… Heck is formidable – a British Alex Cross.’ – The Sun

‘Big star…part edge-of-the-seat, part hide-behind-the-sofa!’ – The Bookseller

‘Consistently inventive. Consistently excellent. Paul Finch writes distinctive dialogue-driven horror that truly grips. Satisfying stories, tautly written with a real sense of authority.’ – Simon Clark

‘Paul Finch is an exciting new voice in the realms of macabre fiction. He sketches out a disturbing landscape, filled with deep shadows and uneasy emotions where stories both traditional and modern are played out to chilling effect. Highly recommended.’ – Mark Chadbourn

‘Finch places considerable stock in atmosphere, and builds fear and unease well with a judicious balance between what is seen, unseen and merely hinted at.’ – Brian Hodge

Follow Paul on Twitter.