AMONG THE SUMMER SNOWS BY CHRISTOPHER NICHOLSON OUT IN PAPERBACK

Christopher Nicholson’s contemplative AMONG THE SUMMER SNOWS is out in paperback from September Publishing. His journey to discover the last snows to survive the summer in the Scottish Highlands was first published in hardback in 2017 and was longlisted for the 2017 Highland Book Prize. AMONG THE SUMMER SNOWS was also one of six books shortlisted for the Boardman Tasker Award for Mountain Literature last year. The judging panel described the book as ‘lyrical and elegiac’.

As the summer draws to a close, a few snowbeds – some as big as icebergs – survive in the Scottish Highlands. Christopher’s AMONG THE SUMMER SNOWS is both a celebration of these great, icy relics and an intensely personal meditation on their significance. A book to delight all those interested in mountains and snow, full of vivid descriptions and anecdotes, it explores the meanings of nature, beauty and mortality in the twenty-first century.

Christopher Nicholson is the author of three novels, including THE ELEPHANT KEEPER (Fourth Estate, 2009), shortlisted for the Costa Prize in 2009. In 2011 the novel was adapted for BBC Radio 4 and shortlisted for the Encore Award. His novel WINTER, about Thomas Hardy’s later life and the young actress who became his last muse, was published in 2014 by Fourth Estate and dramatized for BBC Radio as TESS IN WINTER. The stage adaptation of the novel, titled A PURE WOMAN, will premiere in September 2018 and will tour in Dorchester, Poole, Bristol, Chipping Norton, Malvern, Torrington and further afield.

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Praise for AMONG THE SUMMER SNOWS:

‘Lyrical and elegiac, this debut is a tender account of an unusual fascination with the remaining snows of the Scottish Highlands. Nicholson offers us a wry, self-aware take on the relationship between humans and the changed (and changing) natural world.’ – Boardman Tasker

‘Destined to become a classic of mountain literature. Superb.’ – Chris Townsend, Outdoors

‘Strange, beautiful, eerie and unique, this is the best mountain book I've read in years.... it deserves all the praise likely to avalanche upon it.’ – Simon Ingram, Trail magazine

‘It’s a long while since I read a book that made me laugh and cry within just a few pages … A wrong-footing marvel of a book … touching both death’s void, and love, and the beauty of the natural world at one and the same time and in a way that is all the more powerful for its restraint.’ – Books from Scotland

‘A beautiful book about love and loss, fragility and chance, the wide world and the near world . . . full of intense light and colour, extraordinary glimpses, moving insights and subtle humour.' – Richard Kerridge, author of Cold Blood

AMERICAN GLAMOUR MEETS THE BRITISH ARISTOCRACY: ANNE DE COURCY’S THE HUSBAND HUNTERS OUT IN PAPERBACK

The paperback edition of Anne de Courcy’s insightful group biography THE HUSBAND HUNTERS is published today in paperback by Weidenfeld & Nicolson, following its release in hardback, ebook and audio in June 2017. Jane Ridley praised Anne’s exploration into the lives of the young American heiresses who married into the English aristocracy in The Spectator, as ‘cleverly researched, sparkling with diamonds and wickedly funny.’

US readers can expect hardback copies of the sparkling social history of the 'Dollar Princesses' in August.

Towards the end of the nineteenth century and for the first few years of the twentieth, a strange invasion took place in Britain. The citadel of power, privilege and breeding in which the titled, land-owning governing class had barricaded itself for so long was breached. The incomers were a group of young women who, fifty years earlier, would have been looked on as the alien denizens of another world - the New World, to be precise. From 1874 - the year that Jennie Jerome, the first known 'Dollar Princess', married Randolph Churchill - to 1905, dozens of young American heiresses married into the British peerage, bringing with them all the fabulous wealth, glamour and sophistication of the Gilded Age.

Anne de Courcy sets the stories of these young women and their families in the context of their times. Based on extensive first-hand research, drawing on diaries, memoirs and letters, this richly entertaining group biography reveals what they thought of their new lives in England - and what England thought of them.

Rights to Anne’s next project, CHANEL’S RIVIERA, have already been snapped up by Weidenfeld & Nicolson and St Martin’s Press. Exploring World War II’s impact on the glitz and glamour of the French Riviera, from the last golden fling of 1939 and the first Cannes Film Festival, which had to be suspended, to the first post-war festival of cinema, Anne de Courcy will tell another riveting tale, with its glossy motley crew, set against dark times. A fascinating cast includes Winston Churchill, the Windsors, Edith Wharton, Aldous Huxley, P.G. Wodehouse, Somerset Maugham, and of course Coco Chanel.

Anne de Courcy is a best-selling biographer, acclaimed for her first-hand research and engaging books, which not only tell the stories of her subjects’ lives, but depict the social history of the period. Her biographies include THE VICEROY’S DAUGHTERS, DIANA MOSLEY, DEBS AT WAR and SNOWDON. MARGOT AT WAR: LOVE AND BETRAYAL IN DOWNING STREET, 1912-1916 was shortlisted for the Paddy Power Political Book of the Year Award. THE FISHING FLEET spent many weeks on the Sunday Times bestseller list and has been optioned for film and TV, with rights to THE HUSBAND HUNTERS also under negotiation.

See more on Anne’s website here.

Praise for THE HUSBAND HUNTERS:

‘Anne de Courcy has a sharp instinct for absurdity and there is much of that in this entertaining book. De Courcy engagingly…takes a serious look at the differences between the largely matriarchal American upper-class society of the day, run by women, for women.’ —Anne Sebba, The Literary Review

Lively, shrewd and fresh as a gilded rose, de Courcy’s book is her best yet. I can’t wait to read it again.’ — Miranda Seymour, The Daily Telegraph

 ‘De Courcy charts these harbingers of the Gilded Age, their social mountaineering and the collateral damage that ensured with dexterous charm.’ — The Field

‘For all those who long for more Edith Wharton novels, Anne de Courcy’s THE HUSBAND HUNTERS is a worthy successor, especially as it is the true story of THE BUCCANEERS. Anne de Courcy’s thrilling prose, and fascinating diaries and letters of the period, means the story of the capitulation of British lords to 400 energetic American heiresses is impossible to put down.’ — Rebecca Fraser, author of THE MAYFLOWER

‘A sparkling and richly entertaining account of an intriguing and unusual culture clash.’ — The Mail on Sunday

FANDOM, FRIENDSHIPS AND THE JOB OF YOUR DREAMS: A SECRET BEAT BY REBECCA DENTON OUT TODAY

Rebecca Denton is back with a brilliant new young adult novel A SECRET BEAT, published today by Atom. Set in the same world as her debut novel, THIS BEATS PERFECT (Atom, 2017), A SECRET BEAT follows the lives of two girls, Alexia and Greta, who are hoping an internship at a prestigious production company will be the first step in a glittering career.

Alexia Falls is eighteen, living in her parents' New York penthouse and working with superstar boyband The Keep. But with her heart set on independence and a career behind the camera, she trades it all for a take-it-or-leave-it internship at London's Bright Star Productions.

There, she meets fellow intern Greta. Greta's East End upbringing couldn't have been more different from Alexia's, but she's every bit as hungry for her big break.

But both girls have secrets.

While Alexia doesn't want anyone knowing about her privileged connection to The Keep, Greta has been anonymously running their #1 social fan-feed since she was at school. And when the gossip columns somehow get news of the band's latest scandals, suspicions and accusations start flying...

Real art demands integrity. But staying in the music business requires the opposite. Can you stay true to yourself when your heart follows a secret beat?

Rebecca Denton lives in Hackney. She spent her career traveling the world making Music TV for MTV and Channel 4, and wrangling young adult audiences for the BBC and ITV. She's filmed Iggy Pop, MIA, Kaiser Chiefs, Sonic Youth, Jack White, Dirty Pretty Things, and The Klaxons to name just a few.

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Watch Rebecca’s brilliant book trailers for A SECRET BEAT here and here and here!

Praise for Rebecca Denton:

‘Sparkling with wit, A SECRET BEAT explores celebrity, fandom, and being true to yourself. It’s sharp, fresh, and so much fun.’ – Carlie Sorosiak, author of IF BIRDS FLY BACK and WILD BLUE YONDER

‘A fun, I’m-NOT-with-the-band, tale about too-cool-for-school Amelia, who wants her music to change the world - if only she had the confidence to get up on stage.’ - Red

'THIS BEATS PERFECT is a fabulous celebration of music, friendship, and following your dreams. It's hugely entertaining with plenty of laugh-out-loud moments and Amelie is a wonderful heroine. She's smart, loyal, and fiercely independent. Rebecca Denton's music expertise shows in the incredibly authentic backstage and on stage scenes. A fantastic addition to the burgeoning category of YA books about music, fandoms, and fame.' – Katherine Webber, author of WING JONES

Edward Carey's LITTLE selected to be pitched at SERIES MANIA this week

Edward Carey's LITTLE has been selected to be pitched at the international producer's conference SERIES MANIA this week. Utterly unique, LITTLE is the wry, macabre, unforgettable tale of an ambitious orphan in revolutionary Paris, befriended by royalty and radicals, who transforms herself into the legendary Madame Tussaud.

Eleanor Catton described Carey's earlier novel HEAP HOUSE as ‘delightful, eccentric, heartfelt, surprising, philosophical’, a description that is apt for LITTLE too.

Julian Friedmann will be pitching LITTLE to a wide range of producers and financiers, along with other select BFLA projects. 

FEEL-GOOD SUMMER ROMANCE MY MAMMA MIA SUMMER ACQUIRED BY ORION

World Rights (All Languages) for MY MAMMA MIA SUMMER by Annie Robertson have been acquired by Harriet Bourton, Publisher at Orion Fiction, in a deal struck by Juliet Pickering.

Orion Fiction will publish in eBook first on 7 June 2018 and as a paperback original and in audio on 12 July 2018 to coincide with the film release of Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again.

A joyous, heart-warming summer read, MY MAMMA MIA SUMMER is perfect for fans of escapist women’s fiction and ABBA alike. When her beloved grandmother, Marnie, passes away, Laurel is left with a small inheritance and a note telling her to follow her dreams. Turning to her favourite film for inspiration, Laurel grabs her passport, dons her best dungarees, and jets off to Skopelos for her own Mamma Mia adventure. Laurel is having the life of her life – could this be where she truly belongs?

Annie’s previous novel, I HEART NORA, about an aspiring screenwriter who pens a sequel to When Harry Met Sally, was published in Germany (Blanvalet), the Netherlands (Singel Uitgeveijen), the Czech Republic (Albatros) and Slovakia (Metafora).

Harriet Bourton, editor said: ‘This is an irresistibly fun, feel-good story that practically packs itself into your suitcase! I was craving a romantic, sweet-natured escapist beach read and in MY MAMMA MIA SUMMER Annie delivers that in spades – as well as being so timely with the film just around the corner. This book has taught me that what can’t be captured in an ABBA pun isn’t worth saying.’

Juliet Pickering, said: ‘This is a gorgeous novel, full of adventure and sunshine, and I can’t think of a better match than Annie and the Orion Fiction team.’

Annie Robertson, author said: ‘I'm thrilled to have had the opportunity to work with Harriet and the fabulous team at Orion. I hope MY MAMMA MIA SUMMER will find a place in readers' hearts this summer.’

Annie Robertson trained in London as a classical musician, then worked as an assistant for an Oscar winner, an acclaimed artist, a PR mogul and a Beatle. After several years of running errands for the rich and famous, she went to medical school where, hiding novels in anatomy textbooks, she discovered her true passion for writing. She went on to complete a Creative Writing MA with distinction. Annie now lives back home in Scotland. When not writing she enjoys playing the piano, swimming with her son, visiting antiques markets with her husband, and walking her Basset Hounds.