Pat Kavanagh just sold Jane Borodale’s intriguing debut novel in a two-book deal to Clare Smith/Harper Press! HarperCollins will publish THE BOOK OF FIRES in late Spring or early Summer 2009. Zoe Pagnamenta is handling the US submission in New York. I delighted in the manuscript from start to finish, finding it unusually suspenseful and accomplished for a first novel, and I think many modern women will be captivated by the independent-spirited heroine, a country girl who becomes apprentice to a secretive London fireworks maker. There are romantic undertones, vivid detail about the creation of fireworks, and surprising twists at the end. I’m hopeful that even in the midst of summer, THE BOOK OF FIRES will spark interest across Europe!
