curtis brown australia rights newsletter - spring 2014

Curtis Brown Australia

Spring 2014Rights Newsletter

Curtis Brown (Aust) Pty Ltd | Literary Agents PO Box 19 | Paddington NSW 2021 | Australia

1Curtis Brown Australia / Rights Newsletter / www.curtisbrown.com.au

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FICTION


| CONTEMPORARY FICTION | 480 pp | PAPERBACK |

BIG LITTLE LIESLiane Moriarty

Pirriwee Public's annual school Trivia Night has ended in a shocking riot. A parent is dead. Was it murder, a tragic accident... or something else entirely?

Published by: Pan Macmillan|July 2014Rights available: Translation (please query availability)

Agent: Fiona Inglis ([email protected])

~ DEBUTED AT NUMBER ONE ON THE NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER LIST ~

~ SOLD INTO MORE THEN TWENTY TERRITORIES ~

Description: 'Let me be clear. This is not a circus. This is a murder investigation.'Big Little Lies is a funny, heartbreaking, challenging story of ex-husbands and second wives, new friendships, old betrayals and schoolyard politics. No. 1 New York Times bestselling author turns her unique gaze on the dangerous little lies we tell ourselves every day and what really goes on behind closed suburban doors.

Deservedly popular Moriarty invigorates the tired social-issue formula of women’s fiction through wit, good humor, sharp insight into human nature and addictive storytelling. Kirkus Reviews

LIANE MORIARTY is the author of six adult novels, Three Wishes, The Last Anniversary, What Alice Forgot, The Hypnotist’s Love Story, The Husband’s Secret and Big Little Lies. The Husband’s Secret reached no. 1 on The New York Times bestseller list, was a UK no. 1 bestseller, an Amazon Best Book of 2013, sold over two million copies worldwide, has been optioned for a film and will be translated into over 35 languages. Liane’s latest novel, Big Little Lies, was released in August and debuted at No. 1 on the The New York Times bestseller list and has been optioned for film by Reese Witherspoon and Nicole Kidman. Liane lives in Sydney with her husband, son and daughter.


http://lianemoriarty.com.au/

mailto:[email protected]

| CONTEMPORARY FICTION | 304 pp | PAPERBACK |

ANALOGUE MENNick Earls

Do you ever feel like you might have just one more chance to get on top of your life and make things happen?

Published by: Vintage, Random House|July 2014Rights available: English language excl ANZ, Translation, Film/TVAgent: Pippa Masson ([email protected])

Description: They're starting to feel like Analogue Men trying to make sense of a digital age.Andrew Van Fleet is 49 and feeling 50 closing in. He's bailed out of his private equity job for something that'll let him spend more time at home, but the house is overrun by iPads and teenage hormones and conversations that have moved on without him. Plus his ailing father is now lodged in the granny flat, convalescing from surgery and with his scrappy bulldog in tow. And then there's Brian Brightman, the expensive fading star at the radio station Andrew's signed up to manage, whose every broadcast offers fresh trouble. He's 49 too and, like Andrew, starting to wonder if the twenty-first century might prove to be his second best.

‘A warm, witty, hilarious book that nails the minutiae of domestic life the way only Earls can.’Courier-Mail

NICK EARLS is the author of novels including The Fix, Zigzag Street, Bachelor Kisses, The True Story of Butterfish and Perfect Skin and the collection of short stories Welcome to Normal. His work has been published internationally in English and in translation. He lives in Brisbane.



NON-FICTION


| HISTORICAL | 608 pp | HARDBACK |

AUSTRALIAN PRISONERS OF WARPatsy Adam-Smith

A tribute to ordinary Australian men and women caught in extraordinary times.

Published by: The Five Mile Press|August 2014Rights available: Audio, Film/TVAgent: Clare Forster ([email protected])

Description: Patsy Adam-Smith wrote this classic work after interviews and journeys with dozens of former prisoners from World War I, World War II and the Korean War. She said these were not men and women cowed and humiliated by adversity, but brave people who were captured as they fought in the front line. Stories of the courage, endurance and pain of these resourceful people are at the heart of this most important book, written by one of Australia’s best-loved authors and republished for the people for whom Patsy wrote – the generations to come.

PATSY ADAM-SMITH, AO, OBE, was born in 1926 in Nowingi, Victoria. She was the daughter of country railway workers and went on to write about her childhood in Hear the Train Blow, 1964. The author of some 30 books, she had the rare ability to tap our Australian consciousness and bring us closer to our national identity. Throughout her life she has displayed a passion for adventure and

scholarship, and a great love of Australia. The Anzacs shared the 1978 Age Book of the Year Award and was made into a popular TV series. In 1980 she received an OBE for services to literature, and

in 1994 she was made an Officer of the Order of Australia for her contribution to community history. Patsy Adam-Smith died in 2001.



| SPORT | 288 pp | PAPERBACK |

THE COACHES: THE MEN WHO CHANGED RUGBY LEAGUEJeff Apter

In Jeff Apter’s inimitable and fast-paced style, The Coaches traces the evolution of the rugby league coach and charts the careers of the legends, as well as superstars of the modern era.

Published by: The Five Mile Press|July 2014Rights available: Audio, Film/TV

Agent: Pippa Masson ([email protected])

Description: Rugby league has entered an era when the coach generates as many front bar debates as the players. How did they come to command paydays and status equal to those of their star players?Jeff Apter weaves an entertaining and fast-paced story around both the iconic legends and the instantly recognisable modern masters: Gibson, Bath, Churchill, Masters, Bennett, Stuart and Bellamy. The Coaches: the Men Who Changed Rugby League is indispensable reading for all rugby lovers and sports nuts.

In a career spanning 20 years, JEFF APTER has written 16 commercially and critically acclaimed biographies. He co-wrote the recent Kasey Chambers memoir, called A Little Bird Told Me, and worked with Mark Evans of AC/DC on his bestseller, Dirty Deeds. In 2005, Jeff worked with test cricketer turned commentator Michael Slater on his book, Slats. His other books include studies of Jeff Buckley (which has been adapted for a feature film), the Finn brothers and Keith Urban. Jeff was ghostwriter on a project called In Harm’s Way, the story of a former Australian soldier and his attempts to emancipate two children in Lebanon. Jeff lives on the New South Wales south coast with his wife and two children.



| POPULAR SCIENCE | 224 pp | PAPERBACK |

WHY AREN’T WE DEAD YET?Idan Ben-Barak

Entertaining and thoughtful, this book will inspire the student interested in a career in medicine or immunology, or to inform the reader who just wants to understand more about their body while having a laugh along the way.

Published by: Scribe Publications|July 2014Rights available: Audio, Film/TV Agent: Clare Forster ([email protected])

Description: Disease — specifically infectious disease — is what eventually kills the overwhelming majority of us. In fact, it's amazing that it doesn't get us sooner: we fight off millions of disease-causing germs every day.So how come we're not dead yet? In this lively and accessible book, Idan Ben-Barak tells us why. He explores the immune system and what keeps it running, how germs are destroyed, and why we develop immunities to certain disease-causing agents, and he examines the role of antibiotics and vaccines, and looks at what the future holds for our collective chances of not being dead.

'An accessible account of a complex and important topic.' Prof. Peter C. Doherty, Nobel Prize winner

IDAN BEN-BARAK holds a BSc in medical science and an MSc in microbiology from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and is currently completing a PhD in the history and philosophy of science at the University of Sydney. His first book, Small Wonders: How Microbes Rule Our World was published by Scribe and translated into five languages. It won the 2010 American Association for the Advancement of Science/Subaru SB&F (Science Books and Films) Prize for Excellence in Science Books, Young Adult category. He lives in Melbourne with his wife and two children.



| POPULAR CULTURE | 320 pp | PAPERBACK |

THE RISE AND FALL OF AUSTRALIA Nick Bryant

From the BBC’s Australian correspondent comes a forensic look at the Lucky Country, from the inside and outside.

Published by: Bantam, Random House|July 2014 Rights available: US, UK, Translation, Film/TV Agent: Pippa Masson ([email protected])

Description: Never before has Australia enjoyed such economic, commercial, diplomatic and cultural clout. But never before has its politics been so brutal, narrow and facile, as well as being such a global laughing stock. Nick Bryant offers an outsider's take on the great paradox of modern-day Australian life: of how the country has got richer at a time when its politics have become more impoverished.Rejecting most of the national stereotypes, Nick Bryant sets out to describe the new Australia rather than the mythic country so often misunderstood not just by foreigners but Australians themselves.

‘A serenade to a people — us — who do not grasp their charms on the world stage.’The Herald Sun

As the BBC’s Sydney correspondant, NICK BRYANT became one of the key local faces on the ABC’s 24-hour news channel. Nick was also a regular contributor to several Australian magazines and newspapers including The Monthly and The Australian. Adventures in Correspondentland, his memoir about his decade as a foreign correspondent (Random House Australia), was published in 2011 and his second book, The Rise and Fall of Australia: How a great nation lost its way (also Random House), in 2014. He is now based in New York as the BBC’s New York and UN correspondent.



| MEMOIR | 336 pp | PAPERBACK |

UNDAUNTEDHugh O’Brien

Undaunted is for anyone who's ever dreamed of taking a high-action, alternative route through life. This is an engaging and unexpected account by an operator at once tough, whimsical and funny, and always brutally honest.

Published by: Ebury, Random House|August 2014Rights available: UK, US, Translation, Audio, Film/TVAgent: Tara Wynne ([email protected])

Description: Diving was a boys-own adventure, a jump into the unknown, full of devil-may-care attitudes. It welcomed you with one hand and cast you asunder with the other. It was a hideous bitch goddess and it drank the blood of the unprepared.After an ordinary childhood, Hugh ‘Obi' O'Brien's life has been surprising. What took this sporty country boy from Sydney boarding school to directionless youth to navy clearance diver, slipping undetected through deep waters to defuse mines and dismantle bombs? Upping that level of adrenaline, Obi joined the Special Forces counterterrorism unit TAG (East) – no picnic. In a memoir full of eye-popping anecdotes, he colourfully recounts this wild ride. He reveals the painful transition from military life to his days risking ‘spaghettification' on underwater construction projects to private security work – pirate-hunting in the Red Sea and tearing along the world's most dangerous roads in the Middle East.

HUGH O’BRIEN grew up on ‘Marree’ Greenethorpe, a sheep and wheat farm just outside Young in the Southern Inlands. After leaving school he spent some time travelling through Europe before joining the Navy as a Clearance Diver. Hugh then set about applying for Special Forces with the Army’s counter-terrorism unit TAG (east) – a secretive team of divers and commandos, with the sole purpose of defending the domestic population from harm post 9-11. Acceptance to this unit was the defining moment of Hugh’s life.In 2011, Hugh left the Special Forces to pursue a career in private security. Hugh’s personal account of his experiences in the elite TAG (east) unit was published by Random House Australia in 2014.



| MEMOIR | 272 pp | PAPERBACK |

GOOD ENOUGHDilvin Yasa

Good Enough shares a journey that is both universal and deeply personal. With warmth, wit and wicked humour, Dilvin Yasa details the embarrassing failings, unexpected triumphs and dizzying and delightful in-betweens of modern-day motherhood.

Published by: Pan Macmillan|July 2014Rights available: US, UK, Translation, Audio, Film/TVAgent: Tara Wynne ([email protected])

Description: Dear Dilvin, you suck at this. Sincerely, Dilvin.In the frightening world of tiger mums, little emperors and helicopter parenting, can any mother ever be good enough? Dilvin Yasa thinks probably not. In fact, she's pretty sure mothers have been sold a dodgy lot of unrealistic standards, with a good dollop of guilt thrown in. Dilvin draws extensively and often hilariously on her own experiences as a new mother, but also consults the experts. Each chapter, be it on competitive parenting, post-natal depression or returning to work, contains relevant advice from a professional in the field. Refreshingly candid, Dilvin sheds light on the unexpected challenges of parenting, and never shies from a tough question: Is it okay to take time out from your family? (yes); Should you give your child a 'unique' name? (dubious); and, Is it okay to tell your child that cat heaven is on the moon? (maybe not).

Journalist, media commentator and general zombie/Duran Duran/air guitar enthusiast DIVLIN YASA, is the author of Things My Daughter Needs to Know (Pan Macmillan), and the editor of The Australian Women’s Weekly Ultimate Guide to Divorce. Her most recent book, Good Enough: confessions of a less-than-perfect mum (Pan Macmillan), was released in 2014.She lives in Sydney with her husband and two daughters.


https://twitter.com/DilvinYasa

https://twitter.com/DilvinYasa


YOUNG ADULT


| YOUNG ADULT | 288 pp | PAPERBACK |

ARE YOU SEEING ME?Darren Groth

This road trip will have earth-shattering consequences ...

Published by: Woolshed Press, Random House|Aug 2014Rights available: US & Canada, Film/TVAgent: Tara Wynne ([email protected])

Description: Twins Justine and Perry are about to embark on the road trip of a lifetime in the Pacific Northwest. It's been a year since they watched their dad lose his battle with cancer. Now, at only nineteen, Justine is the sole carer for her disabled brother. But with Perry having been accepted into an assisted-living residence, their reliance on each other is set to shift. Before they go their separate ways, they're seeking to create the perfect memory. For Perry, the trip is a glorious celebration of his favourite things: mythical sea monsters, Jackie Chan movies and the study of earthquakes. For Justine, it's a chance to reconcile the decision to ‘free' her twin, to see who she is without her boyfriend, Marc – and to offer their mother the chance to atone for past wrongs. But the instability that has shaped their lives will not subside, and the seismic event that Perry forewarned threatens to reduce their worlds to rubble . . .

‘A funny and beautiful story about love, life and other disasters, told with the help of Robinson Crusoe and Jackie Chan. I think what we're “seeing” here is a writer at the top of his game. Just wonderful.' Michael Gerard Bauer, author of The Running Man

DARREN GROTH is a prominent Australian author, speaker and mentor now living in Canada. His novel, MVP – Most Valuable Potential, was shortlisted for Best Young Adult Book at the Queensland Premier’s Literary Awards and selected for the ‘Books From Our Backyard: 100 Must-Read Books From Queensland’ list. The Umbilical Word was released in June 2008 and Hachette Australia published Kindling in 2010, to rave reviews. His latest work, Are You Seeing Me?, was published by Random House in 2014.



| PICTURE BOOK | 240 pp | PAPERBACK |

REPLICAJack Heath

A hugely original and furiously-paced thriller that will set your heart racing. Think Blade Runner meets Slated.

Published by: Oxford University Press UK|August 2014Rights available: Audio, Film/TV

Agent: Clare Forster ([email protected])

Description: Chloe wakes up to find all her memories are gone. The only person who knows what happened is a teenage girl who looks and sounds just like her. But who is she? And what does she want?

‘Intense, thought-provoking YA sci-fi about identity, ethics and android doppelgangers... well worth waiting for. Great balance of contemplative philosophy/ belting action.’ Imogen Russel Williams, critic at The Guardian

JACK HEATH is the internationally-published award-winning author of seven YA action-adventure books. The plan is to continue writing one book per year until he’s dead. Jack was born in Sydney in 1986, and has resided in Canberra since 1995. He started writing The Lab when he was 13 years old and had his first publishing contract at 18. When he’s not writing, Jack is performing street magic, composing film music, teaching or lecturing at schools and festivals, or playing a variety of instruments including the piano and the bass guitar.


http://www.jackheath.com.au/


| YOUNG ADULT | 480 pp | HARDBACK |

THE SHIP KINGS #3: THE WAR OF THE FOUR ISLES Andrew McGahan

Dow Amber faces terrifying monsters and devastating betrayal as he is drawn into a battle that threatens to destroy everything he has ever loved. The third gripping instalment in an epic adventure series.

Published by: Allen & Unwin|August 2014Rights available: UK, US, Tranlsation, Audio, Film/TVAgent: Fiona Inglis ([email protected])

Description: Nearly three years have passed since Dow Amber escaped the ruin of the Twelfth Kingdom. In that time, war has raged across the Four Isles, but Dow himself has been hidden away by his Twin Islands hosts, relegated to a backwater of the war in the company of the beguiling Cassandra.But when word reaches Dow that Ignella of the Cave has been imprisoned on the infamous Ship Kings dungeon-isle of Banishment, he can be patient no longer. He sets forth on an epic voyage that will take him halfway around the world -- defying storm and monster, betrayal and despair -- to the heart of the greatest battle of the age, and to the discovery at last of his true purpose upon the high seas.

ANDREW McGAHAN is one of Australia's finest fiction writers. His first novel, Praise, won the 1992 Australian/Vogel Literary Award. The White Earth won the 2004 Miles Franklin Literary Award, the Commonwealth Writers' Prize, The Age Book of the Year and The Courier Mail Book of the Year Award. In 2009 Andrew was shortlisted for the Manning Clark House National Cultural Awards for his contribution to Australian Literature.The Coming of the Whirlpool, book one in the Ship Kings series, was shortlisted for an Indie Award, an ABIA, an Aurealis Award, a Golden Inky and a 2012 CBC award. Book two, The Voyage of the Unquiet Ice was Highly Commended in the 2012 Fellowship of Australian Writers National Literary Awards - Christina Stead Award, a 2013 CBC Notable Book and shortlisted for the Queensland Literary Awards. Book three, The War of the Four Isles, was released in August 2014. Andrew lives in Melbourne.



| YOUNG ADULT | 256 pp | PAPERBACK |

ROMY BRIGHTJen Storer

Think family, friends and fashion, romance, tears and laughter. That's Crystal Bay!

Published by: Puffin, Penguin|July 2013Rights available: Film/TV Agent: Clare Forster ([email protected])

Description: Romy Bright is going to rock the Harvest Festival and become a hardcore muso. But right now she's stuck babysitting, minding the flower shop and watching out for her erratic mum. At least Romy can rely on James. He's her best friend and when they're playing music together, nothing else matters. That is, until Matt arrives in Crystal Bay . . .Who cares if Matt's off limits? Romy's determined to win his heart. Even if she has to become someone else to do it. Even if she has to turn her back real love. . .

JEN STORER is a talented and prolific writer for children. Her bestselling mystery/comedy series Truly Tan (illustrated by Claire Robertson) includes Truly Tan, Truly Tan: Spooked!, Truly Tan: Jinxed!, chosen as a Notable Book for Younger Readers, Children’s Book Council Awards, and Truly Tan: Freaked! to be published late 2014. Jen Storer’s gothic fantasy, Tensy Farlow and the Home for Mislaid Children, was shortlisted for several awards including the inaugural Prime Minister’s Literary Awards and the CBCA Book of the Year. Jen’s homage to Enid Blyton, The Accidental Princess, was Highly Commended in the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards.


http://www.jenstorer.com/


CHILDREN’S


| PICTURE BOOK | 32 pp | HARDCOVER |

CRIKEY AND CATChris McKimmie

If the stars were blown out of the sky by a storm, what would you do? A beautiful new picture book from the amazing, three-time CBC-shortlisted author, Chris McKimmie.

Published by: Allen & Unwin|July 2014Rights available: Audio, Film/TVAgent: Pippa Masson ([email protected])

Description: When there are no stars in the sky, sometimes all you need is a ladder, a friend, a dog, a cat and an all-night hardware store.A story celebrating creativity and friendship from the highly acclaimed author and illustrator Chris McKimmie.

CHRIS MCKIMMIE is an award-winning picture book author and artist. Brian Banana Duck Sunshine Yellow, published in 2006, was short-listed for CBCA Picture Book of the Year Award 2007. Chris’ picture books include Maisie Moo and Invisible Lucy which was a CBCA Notable Children’s Book in 2007, Special Kev which was short-listed for the CBCA Picture Book of the Year 2008, Two Peas in a Pod, Good Morning Mr Pancakes, Alex and the Watermelon Boat, Scarlett and the Scratchy Moon and, most recently, Crikey and Cat.



curtis brown australia rights newsletter - spring 2014

Documents

new york times bestseller

fiction contemporary

new friendships

rights available

author of novels

popular moriarty

husbands secret

amazon best book