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Austin Taylor’s debut NOTES ON INFINITY has been chosen as Belletrist’s July book of the month!

Published in the US in June and forthcoming in the UK next week, NOTES ON INFINITY is a singular, extraordinary debut about Zoe and Jack, Harvard students who find themselves propelled into the intoxicating biotech startup world when they announce they’ve discovered the cure for aging.

Belletrist is run by actress Emma Roberts and Karah Preiss, who will be joined by Austin for this month’s virtual book club. Congratulations, Austin!

Congratulations to Lauryn Hamilton Murray on hitting the Sunday Times bestseller list! HEIR OF STORMS topped the Children’s & YA chart at number 1, and was number 3 in the overall chart.

A Waterstones’ Young Adult book of the month and the first of the STORM WEAVER series, HEIR OF STORMS is an epic romantasy in the style of TWIN CROWNS and early Sarah J. Maas with a touch of THE HUNGER GAMES.

I am the girl who wove the storm that shook the world.
And I’m coming for my crown.

When Blaze came into the world, she almost drowned it.

Blaze, a Rain Singer, is born into one of the most powerful fire-wielding families in the empire. Her birth summoned a devastating storm that resulted in the deaths of thousands, and she has spent her life as an outsider, reviled and feared.

When Blaze and her twin brother, Flint, are selected to compete in the Choosing Rite, the trials which decide the future rulers of the empire, she’s suddenly thrust into the limelight – and into battle.

Threats abound at the Golden Palace, where intrigue and romance await with not one but two handsome suitors: the enchanting Crown Prince and a dangerously alluring newcomer at court.

As her powers strengthen and her fellow competitors fall, the throne is suddenly within her grasp. But in order to take the crown, she’ll have to leave behind the stories that others have told about her and find the courage to write her own.

Happy publication day to A.B. Poranek! A TREACHERY OF SWANS publishes today in the UK from Penguin Children’s. Her debut novel, WHERE THE DARK STANDS STILL was an instant New York Times’ bestseller.

A TREACHERY OF SWANS is an enthralling sapphic retelling of Swan Lake.

Magic has long been outlawed in Auréal. Odile has always known she’d be the one to restore it.

Raised by a sorcerer, Odile has spent years preparing for the heist of a lifetime. It’s perfectly simple: impersonate a princess, infiltrate the palace, steal the enchanted crown and restore magic to the kingdom.

But when the King is unexpectedly murdered, she’s forced to recruit the help of Marie, the real princess, and the two begin to unravel a web of lies and deceit that leaves Odile uncertain of whom to trust.

Soon though Odile must decide – her mission or the girl she’s falling for?

The fate of the Kingdom depends on her making the right choice. . .

Paper Literary’s Katie Greenstreet has been featured as one of six ‘next great agents’ in Poets & Writers magazine, where she has been named a rising star in the publishing industry.

In an interview discussing her journey from Wall Street corporate lawyer to assistant to the Head of Books at ICM Partners, and then her journey across the pond to C&W in London, ending up at Paper Literary in 2022, Katie talks about her agenting ethos, what she’s looking for – in submissions, and in authors – and what she sees as coming next. You can read the full interview below.

Congratulations on this very well-deserved recognition, Katie!

Katie Greenstreet’s allegiance to her authors runs deep: “Several of my early mentors had such strong relationships with their clients, some that spanned decades—as someone who really values deep relationships in my professional life, it’s a style of work I’ve tried to emulate.” Since moving to the world of agenting in 2015, Greenstreet has begun to build just such relationships, representing “exclusively adult upmarket fiction across all genres,” and has earned a reputation for scouting new talent and “incredible deals,” says her Paper colleague Catherine Cho.

What draws you to being an agent? 
Agenting is a great match for both my personality and my skill set. I’m competitive to a fault and also deeply independent, so I love that the sky is the limit for my business and my clients. I also love the thrill of the chase and eagerly open my submissions inbox each morning desperate to find a new voice that I can’t stop reading. There’s also the enormous satisfaction of working on a story and with an author across both the life of the book and their careers. And finally, I love having a hand in all aspects of rights—the initial English-language deal, the excitement of bringing a story to readers across the world in translation—and as a lifelong film and TV junkie, cementing the Hollywood piece of the puzzle never ceases to thrill me.

What was your trajectory to your current position? And what experiences have shaped your approach to agenting?
I came to publishing in a slightly roundabout way, after a quick career as a corporate lawyer, working for large firms on Wall Street. A turning point came for me when I was working on a merger between two publishing companies. It hit me that I’d give anything to be the client in that scenario. Growing up without any connections in publishing, or really in New York, and graduating from a university with a heavy focus on science and finance, it didn’t seem like a feasible path for me. I decided to bet on myself, enrolled in the Columbia Publishing Course, and was lucky to land my absolute dream job as an assistant to the head of books at ICM Partners…. Fast-forward two years and my husband was offered a job in London…. We jumped at the chance to move on his visa, and I started at C&W (part of Curtis Brown U.K.) a few months later, where I worked for two amazing agents and began to build my own list. Shortly after Catherine Cho founded Paper, we began talks about my joining, and after five happy years with C&W, I joined Catherine and threw myself into helping her build the boutique agency of our dreams.

When you have that first call or meeting with a potential client, what signs tell you you’ve found someone you want to represent? 
We have a no-jerks policy at Paper—so being a nice person is a prerequisite! But I also look for someone who is both enormously ambitious for the career piece of their writing to take off but who would also write happily, just for themselves, because they simply love the craft of storytelling…. I think the second an author becomes cynical, they’re in trouble. I’m also not looking to work with folks with just one great idea—I take the long-term career part of my pitch very seriously.

What are some of the most rewarding moments—either public-facing or more interpersonal—you’ve had in working with the writers you represent? 
Some recent wins include helping my incredible author Kate Fagan transition from a successful career as a journalist and nonfiction author into a debut novelist with a laundry list of brilliant reviews and picks—and a second book deal. I’m also still buzzing from my client Rosanna Pike’s longlisting for the Women’s Prize, one of my favorite prizes run out of the U.K. because of its emphasis on both brilliant storytelling and beautiful prose. Her debut, A Little Trickerie, was not the most commercial prospect given the specificity of its voice and a historical setting outside of the time periods popular in publishing, so the critical acclaim has been a real reminder to trust my gut.

Ideally agent-writer relationships can last a lifetime; what do you think it takes to build that kind of successful partnership? 
To me the ideal author-agent relationship is akin to a successful marriage. It requires good communication, trust in each other’s instincts, and a really collaborative mindset. And an understanding that both parties are human. I think when the teamwork mentality falls away, there’s ripe opportunity for strife—as there would be in any business relationship.

What’s at the top of your manuscript wish list right now? 
I always say that literary suspense is my truest love, and as such I’m desperate for some character-driven thrillers to land in my inbox ahead of the summer. Liz Moore’s The God of the Woods was a real highlight for me last year—I would love to see a similarly layered family drama with a backdrop of crime or mystery come my way. Sense of place is also very important to me, so anything with a strong escapist setting—especially if that setting has elements of both glamour and decay, an underbelly—I’m sold! I also love a classic upstairs-downstairs story and would love to see a twist on that setup, again with a suspense-crime-mystery element. I realize in many ways I’m describing all three seasons of The White Lotus, so I should mention that as a comp that will always, always have me dropping everything to dive into a submission.

How do you see agenting, or publishing more generally, evolving, and are there particular parts of that evolution that you hope to effect? 
I think agents need to fight harder than ever to protect their clients’ interest in what has become a bit of a rights land grab from publishers and also, of course, in the face of the changes to be wrought by AI. I’d love to see agents become more collaborative across/outside their own agencies, as unless you work for one of the big talent agencies, it can be difficult to dig in and win on important deal points. There’s strength in numbers, but the agency model doesn’t always lend itself to sharing information.

BBC Books will publish The Moon Cruise by Esmie Jikiemi-Pearson, a brand new Doctor Who story featuring The Doctor and his companion, Belinda. The book will be published on 13th November this year.

Esmie previously wrote the novelisation of the 2023 Christmas special, The Church on Ruby Road.

The TARDIS lands on board a luxury space liner owned by the interstellar shipping magnate, Marilyn Moon. The Moon Cruise offers its wealthy passengers up-close views of astounding cosmic wonders and the Doctor and Belinda are soon high rolling it on the top deck.

But there is a sinister side to life on board. What is the secret of the smiling, blonde-haired mannequins? What happens to the cruise ship workers when they go off shift?

The Doctor soon learns that not all prisons come with bars on the windows, while Belinda faces one of the greatest cruelties in the universe – a zero-pay contract in retail and hospitality that can never be broken…

Kate Eberle’s debut IF BOOKS COULD KILL has been acquired by Marie Michels at Pamela Dorman Books (NA) in an upper six-figure deal, in a ten-way auction, and in the UK by Hannah Smith at Penguin Michael Joseph, in a ‘significant’ six-figure deal, winning a seven-way auction.

Rights have also sold in eleven territories internationally and optioned for film.

IF BOOKS COULD KILL is a high-concept romantic comedy following an adventure-loving woman who makes a tongue-in-cheek wish to live inside of a romance novel but finds herself dropped into a crime thriller instead.

Congratulations, Kate!

We are delighted to announce that Rae Giana Rashad’s new novel, SWEET WATER has been acquired in a six-figure deal by Sara Nelson at Harper Fiction. Catherine Cho at Paper Literary negotiated the deal in an exclusive submission for North American rights.

Rae Giana Rashad’s debut novel, THE BLUEPRINT was a finalist for the Pen Open Book Award.

SWEET WATER is a lyrical Southern novel braided like a blues song, set between 1956 and 1983 in Houston’s Third Ward, following a young woman imprisoned for the death of her mother’s former lover, who writes from prison to his daughter, unearthing a shared legacy of grief, obsession, and the fate inherited from their mothers.

Congratulations, Rae!

Happy paperback publication day to IF LOOKS COULD KILL by Katherine Blake, previously published as THE UNFORGETTABLE LORETTA, DARLING – a tribute to love, bookshops and Nora Ephron. It publishes today in the UK with Bloomsbury.

Martinis, makeup …. and murder?

It’s 1950 and Loretta Darling is living the California dream. She’s a make-up artist to the stars, dancing till dawn at fancy parties and tanning on palm tree lined beaches.

But Tinseltown backlots are filled with monsters and Loretta finds herself up-close-and-personal with one of the worst.

Big mistake. Huge.

LA has picked on the wrong girl and they’re about to discover there’s much more than lipstick lurking in her beauty case.

Hollywood may be Loretta’s dream, but she’s straight out of their nightmares.

PRAISE FOR IF LOOKS COULD KILL:

‘Sparkles with fun and wit’ – LIBBY PAGE, bestselling author of The Lido

‘A fun, gossipy glimpse into Golden Era Hollywood’ – JULIE COHEN, bestselling author of Together

‘Great fun – Loretta is glorious!’ – LUCY DIAMOND, bestselling author of Anything Could Happen

‘What a delicious dark delight of a book!’ – JENNA BLUM, bestselling author of Those Who Save Us

‘So sassy and delicious. Loretta is one cool character’ – JOSIE SILVER, Sunday Times bestselling author of One Day in December

‘Full of scene-stealing characters, this book is a wildly enjoyable ride’ – LAURA WOOD, author of Under Your Spell

‘Absolutely loved this romp of a book. So feisty and fun’ – TANIA TAY, author of The Other Woman

Happy US Publication Day to Kit Conway! Her debut suspense novel, CAT FIGHT, publishes today in the US from Atria Books. The book has also recently been optioned for film by Cowboy Films.

BIG LITTLE LIES meets Tiger King in this debut following the unraveling of a wealthy, insular London suburb after one of the residents spots a big cat during a dinner party and three neighbors use the hysteria surrounding the sighting for their own, at times sinister, purposes…

PRAISE FOR CAT FIGHT:

Original, sharp, clever, and wonderfully observed, Cat Fight got under my skin, luring me in, baiting me perfectly to a denouement that made me gasp ― Andrea Mara

A genuinely original domestic suspense . . . Twisty, sharp (clawed) and deliciously unhinged ― Catherine Ryan Howard

A twisty tale stuffed full of secrets, drama and cattiness ― Cesca Major

Half thriller, half witty social commentary. You think you know what’s going on, you’re wrong. ― Nikki May

Like a British Liane Moriarty, Conway deftly balances tension and humour in this perfectly plotted suspense debut ― Jess Bull

Fresh, funny and razor sharp. A brilliantly twisty novel ― Anna MazzolaI loved it! Tense, clever, filled with wry observations and claw sharp plotting ― Alex HayFeisty, clever and original . . . I devoured it ― Cressida McLaughlin

Catty, claustrophobic, choked with tension, this look at a suburban middle-class community is Kent’s answer to Big Little Lies . . . there’s nothing not to love ― Rachael Blok

Sharpen your claws and get ready for this brilliantly observed suburban suspense . . . I predict it will fly! ― Nikki Smith

Entertaining and funny, while still being dark as hell . . . a truly original domestic suspense ― Caz Frear

A compelling, gripping thriller which kept me guessing . . . wrapped up in a witty and sharply observed social satire ― Aliya Ali-Afzal

FABULOUS . . . Deserpate Housewives meets Tiger King meets Motherland. I loved it ― Sarah Turner

The book I wish I’d written . . . fans of Big Little Lies are going to love it ― Amanda Cassidy

Prepare for your next obsession! I was gripped from the first page to the last. ― L. C. North

A gripping, intriguing domestic thriller with a dramatic difference. I loved this book ― Laura Marshall

What a wild ride! I had no idea what would happen next in this bold, fun novel set in a community held together with lies and leopard print ― Holly Seddon

The claws are out in this fantastic domestic thriller. Thrilling, funny and impossible to put down ― Jo Jakeman

I absolutely loved it . . . captivating ― Amanda Reynolds

Unusual and compelling ― Emily Edwards

An astute takedown of suburban life . . . finely drawn comedy with sharp claws ― Chris Bridges

Begins with peaceful suburbia and slowly all hell breaks loose. Loved it ― Rachel Wolf

The most twisty and turny and tense and sweaty and socially-painful thriller I have ever read ― Bethany Clift