DEAL OF THE WEEK
DEALS
By Rachel DeahlMOVIE DEALS
INTERNATIONAL
DEALS● Daniel Schulman’s 2014 book
about the Koch brothers, Sons of
Wichita (Grand Central), has been
optioned by the production
companies Oberservatroy and
Cavendish Pictures. According to
Deadline, the nonfiction title is set
to serve as the basis of “both
fiction and nonfiction projects,”
with a likely “limited series as well as
a documentary” resulting from the
acquisition.
● After what Deadline called “a
competitive situation,” David
Ignatius’s the Quantum Spy series
was optioned by the Boies/Schiller
Film Group. The books, published
by Norton, are set for series
development.● My Friend Natalia by Laura
Lindstedt has been acquired by
Gallimard. The Finnish novel
(which Norton will publish in the
U.S.) has now sold in 11 territo-
ries. The Elina Ahlback Literary
Agency, which handled the sale,
called the novel “a thrilling explo-
ration of gender, sexuality, and
power following an ambitious
therapist and a patient with a
unique psychological obsession.”
● Simon & Schuster UK nabbed a
book that the publisher called
“a filthier, more candid The Devil
Wears Prada,” according to the
Bookseller. The publisher bought
world rights to Sara-Ella Ozbek’s
The High Moments; the author,
who lives in London, is a former
Vogue intern who also worked at
a modeling agency.■ HC Nabs Book on Epstein Case
In a world rights acquisition, Alessandra Bastagli at Dey Street bought reporter
Julie K. Brown’s currently untitled book about the Jeffrey Epstein case. Brown,
a reporter for the Miami Herald, wrote an award-winning
series of articles on Epstein, a wealthy financier whose
decades as a sex offender became a national story earlier
this year, resulting in his incarceration and subsequent
suicide. The series, titled Perversion of Justice, involved
years of reporting and, per Dey Street, “is universally
acknowledged as the determining factor in Epstein’s
July 2019 arrest on sex trafficking charges.” Dey Street
elaborated that the book, which Laurie Liss at Sterling
Lord Literistic sold in an exclusive submission, will go
deeper into Epstein’s dealings and “expose the inner
workings of the sexual pyramid scheme he forced girls into, and will impli-
cate powerful, wealthy, and influential politicians, academics, businessmen,
and public figures.”■ ‘Race’ Runs to Tor
Lucinda Roy, who’s published two works of literary fiction
(Lady Moses and Hotel Alleluia), sold her first work of
speculative fiction in a three-book deal. Freedom Race,
according to Roy’s agent Jennifer Weltz at JVNLA, fea-
tures “echoes of The Underground Railroad and The
Handmaid’s Tale” and is set in “an alternate future where
slavery has returned and one young woman challenges
the boundaries of race and redefines what it means to
live free.” Jen Gunnels at Tor nabbed world English
rights in the agreement, with Freedom Race set for release in 2021. Weltz
said the deal is “flexible” but that Freedom Race will launch what’s expected
to be, at least, a two-book series.■ Trump’s Former Press Sec Speaks at SMP
Former White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders sold world
rights to her memoir to St. Martin’s Press. George Witte brokered the deal
for the currently untitled book with David Limbaugh, a conservative com-
mentator and author (and brother of conservative pundit Rush Limbaugh); he
handled the sale in his capacity as a lawyer. SMP said that in the book, set
for fall 2020, Sanders, who is only the third woman to hold the position of
White House press secretary, will discuss “subjects including the media, family,
faith, and performing an all-consuming and highly visible job while raising her
young family.”■ Oseman’s Webcomic Headed to Scholastic’s Graphix
At auction, Graphix’s David Saylor and Cassandra Pelham Fulton bought
North American rights to four books in Alice Oseman’s Heartstopper series.©^
l a r r ye.
j a c k s o nBrownRoy8 PUBLISHERS WEEKLY ■ SEPTEMBER 9, 2019