Hodder Studio wins auction for UNDERCURRENT: A CORNISH MEMOIR OF POVERTY, NATURE AND RESILIENCE, a vital, thoughtful and powerful memoir by Natasha Carthew

Editorial Director Harriet Poland has bought UK and British Commonwealth Rights after a multi-publisher auction, from Juliet Pickering at Blake Friedmann Literary Agency. The book will be published in Summer 2023.

UNDERCURRENT is a memoir of rural poverty and escape that blends nature-writing with personal testimony and investigation. Cornwall has long been the heartland of the second home, a county of staggering beauty and striking inequality, where working-class families are pushed out of the villages of their childhood and ignored by a political system not built to protect them. Natasha Carthew grew up in a Cornish village that felt a world away from the Rick Stein seafronts, experiencing a childhood of perilous instability and limited opportunity while drinking in the beauty of the world around her. She found solace in the local mobile library, and freedom in the written word. In UNDERCURRENT she comes full circle, returning to the place of her birth to make sense of her journey away from it.

 This memoir will explore the complex ecosystem of rural poverty, including precarious employment opportunities, limited education and healthcare resources, and the ravages poverty plays upon the human mind and body. It is also a love letter to a landscape that is among the most beautiful in the world, an Eden of natural magnificence and a refuge for the spirit. Natasha’s writing has always connected the beauty of the world with its harshest lessons, and in her first non-fiction book she reveals a powerful truth about society.

 Natasha Carthew is the author of three YA novels (Bloomsbury), an adult novel, ALL RIVERS RUN FREE (Riverrun), several books of poetry, and a contributor to HAG: FORGOTTEN FOLKTALES RETOLD (Virago), and to WOMEN ON NATURE (Unbound). She is a regular public voice on working class stories, has written for several national newspapers and recorded essays for BBC Radio broadcast.   She is also the Founder and Artistic Director of The Working Class Writers’ Festival.

 Natasha Carthew says: ‘It was incredibly important to me that UNDERCURRENT my love letter to Cornwall, was placed into the hands of a creative, compassionate editor, an editor who, whilst treating my memoir with care and consideration, would not be afraid to challenge the picture-postcard image of a County that in truth is ravaged by severe poverty; I’m delighted to say that Harriet Poland is without doubt that editor. With Hodder Studio I know that I have found my true literary home, a publisher of innovation and verve, I can think of no better place to publish this, my heartland story.’

 Harriet Poland comments: ‘Of many society-shifting events of the two years, the great migration to ‘the country’ is perhaps the one that will leave the longest mark. What is a privilege to some is the slow destruction of a way of life to others, and this book is a testament to the impact of rural inequality. Natasha, as ever, balances beauty, intimacy and truth in her writing, and this memoir is a vitally important and moving record of lives beyond the M25.’

You can pre-order the book at Waterstones here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/undercurrent/natasha-carthew/9781399706476

Follow Natasha on Twitter and visit her website.

Trailer Released for Tom Boyle's THE LEDGE

The trailer for THE LEDGE has dropped, with screenplay by Blake Friedmann client Tom Boyle. This is the newest film from Paramount Pictures and Saban Films, directed by Howard J. Frost, and stars Brittany Ashworth.

THE LEDGE is going to be released in select US cinemas and video on demand on 18th February 2022.

Read more about Tom Boyle and his screenwriting work here.

A rock-climbing adventure between two friends turns into a terrifying nightmare. After Kelly (Brittany Ashworth) captures the murder of her best friend on camera, she becomes the next target of a tight-knit group of friends who will stop at nothing to destroy the evidence and anyone in their way. Desperate for her safety, she begins a treacherous climb up a mountain cliff and her survival instincts are put to the test when she becomes trapped with the killers just 20 feet away.

Read more about the film here.

Head of Zeus acquires two new titles from David Gilman

Nicolas Cheetham, CEO of Head of Zeus, has acquired rights in two new books by David Gilman from Isobel Dixon, Head of Books at Blake Friedmann.

 Cheetham has acquired UK and British Commonwealth rights (excluding Canada) in the third title in Gilman’s international thriller series, THE ENGLISHMAN. The first book featuring French Foreign Legionnaire Dan Raglan was longlisted for the Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize in 2021 and was a Financial Times Thriller of the Year in 2020. The second book in the series, BETRAYAL, is out in hardback on 6 January 2022, with the third title to be published in February 2023.

 AGC Studios have optioned THE ENGLISHMAN for development as a feature film in the vein of the Jason Bourne franchise with 300, ACT OF VALOR and ATOMIC BLONDE scriptwriter Kurt Johnstad set to write the adventure-thriller script.

 Head of Zeus has also signed up World English language rights in the eighth instalment of Gilman’s hugely popular MASTER OF WAR series, set during the 100 Years War and starring English stonemason and archer, Thomas Blackstone, who becomes a renowned knight. The series has sold over half a million copies in English and is a Top Ten paperback and ebook bestseller in Germany. The eighth Thomas Blackstone title will be published in February 2024.

Nicolas Cheetham says: Ten years and ten books ago, David was one of the first writers to throw his lot in with the newly-formed Head of Zeus. Together we have survived armoured cavalry charges, the Black Death, the Boer War and Nazi-occupied Paris. Now with his new series of contemporary thrillers we line up behind Dan Raglan, aka THE ENGLISHMAN, as we close in on one million sales – with more adventures for Thomas Blackstone and his comrades to follow too.’

David Gilman says: ‘I am extremely fortunate to have Nic Cheetham as my publisher at Head of Zeus, whose enthusiasm for my work allows me to write books covering medieval to contemporary times. It has proven to be a successful partnership that has created two ongoing literary heroes with Thomas Blackstone in the 14th Century MASTER OF WAR series and Dan Raglan in the 21st Century THE ENGLISHMAN series. I’m looking forward to seeing where they go next!’

Isobel Dixon says: ‘I’m always in awe of David Gilman’s versatility and work ethic, and the way he creates such engaging characters from very different time periods. I am so happy that readers can keep following both Dan Raglan and Thomas Blackstone, as David writes more brilliant stories and Head of Zeus continues to build the reach of these two superb series.’

 

Praise for David Gilman

‘Verve, pace, shocks and intrigue … an author at the zenith of his powers.’ – Peter James

‘Electrifying proof that high-tension international thrillers are back – and with an absolute vengeance.’ – William Shaw

 ‘The pace is relentless, the action and fight scenes superbly choreographed and Raglan is nicely complex: an action man with inner depths... THE ENGLISHMAN is a cracking, finely crafted thriller.' – Adam Le Bor, Financial Times

'Incisive prose – and the pulse-pounding pace just never lets up.’ – Peter May

‘What Gilman does superlatively is heart-pounding action.’—The Times

 'I'm totally bedazzled. I'd never thought that another writer could rival Bernard Cornwell … but David is giving him a real run for his money.’— Sharon Penman

 ‘Move over Bernard Cornwell! Historical fiction at its best.’ — Historical Novel Society

 About David Gilman

David Gilman lives in Devon. He was a firefighter, soldier, photographer, then award-winning screenwriter and writer of an acclaimed adventure series for young readers, before turning to writing his much-loved and bestselling MASTER OF WAR series full-time. Head of Zeus have sold more than half a million copies of David Gilman’s novels in English, and his work is translated into more than a dozen languages. The MASTER OF WAR titles featuring Thomas Blackstone has been widely reviewed and titles have featured several times on the Der Spiegel bestseller lists in Germany.

 THE LAST HORSEMAN, a standalone novel following Irish involvement in the Anglo-Boer War, was shortlisted for the Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize and his new contemporary thriller series, THE ENGLISHMAN, starring ex-Foreign Legion soldier Dan Raglan, was longlisted for the Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize as well. He is also the author of a popular WWII espionage thriller, NIGHT FLIGHT TO PARIS.

 

Follow David on Twitter

Visit David’s website

Isobel Dixon Makes 2021's Bookseller 150

We are delighted that Isobel Dixon, MD and Head of Books at Blake Friedmann, as well as current President of the Association of Authors’ Agents (AAA), has again been included in The Bookseller 150 list. The Bookseller 150 is an annual list of the 150 most influential people in UK publishing.

Isobel has worked in publishing for over 26 years, and represents writers from around the world, including Sunday Times and New York Times bestsellers and international prize winners. She is a Trustee of the National Centre for Writing, a Frankfurt Book Fair Fellow and a mentor for the Rebecca Swift Foundation Women Poets’ Prize. She also plays an active role on the board of The Book Trade Charity. As a poet her work is published by Nine Arches in the UK and Jacana and Modjaji in South Africa.

On her inclusion in this year’s 150, The Bookseller stated: ‘It’s been a year of growth and change for Dixon’s Blake Friedmann, with Daisy Way, Kate Burke and Juliet Pickering becoming directors. Dixon’s own highlights included Monique Roffey winning the Costa and inking a new, massive five-book deal for crime king Peter James with Pan Mac. Dixon expertly led the Association of Authors’ Agents in an eventful year, which included joining other trade bodies on the Save our Books copyright campaign and adjusting admission requirements to enable the organisation to become more inclusive.’

Isobel says: ‘The Bookseller 150 is a great encouragement, but it is recognition shared with many and only possible because of the efforts, inspiration and company of many heroes and comrades: my brilliant authors and colleagues, fellow agents, the AAA committee and members, and publishing friends all round. Congratulations to all on the list for the work they do for the book trade, and also to Bernardine Evaristo for her richly deserved special 151st accolade.’

 

See more on the Blake Friedmann Literary Agency promotions mentioned in the Bookseller 150 – from December 2020 and December 2021.

See more about Isobel and her clients here.

Follow Isobel on Twitter and Instagram, and visit her website.