The Italian publisher, Garzanti, read Julia Crouch’s debut thriller CUCKOO overnight within 24 hours of submitting the manuscript and we’ve accepted an enthusiastic pre-emptive offer for two books. Julia Crouch will join Garzanti’s successful list of quality commercial fiction including authors such as Kim Edwards, Sophie Hannah, Lynda La Plante, Elly Griffiths, Katie Hickman and Joanne Harris.
Now there’s also a German deal with Ullstein who have also bought two books. They will publish Julia Crouch as a lead author on their paperback list. Amongst Ullstein’s most successful authors are Linwood Barclay, Chris Carter, Iris Johanson, Sam Hayes, Jack Kerley, Dennis Lehane and – currently on the SPIEGEL-bestseller list – Tania Carver.
CUCKOO is a deliciously unsettling and completely compulsive page-turner. It is the kind of novel that creeps up on you and makes the world seem a darker and more sinister place. Friendship, old secrets and infidelity all come together in a very potent mix. Headline pre-empted UK rights from primary agent Simon Trewin in a three-book deal. They will publish CUCKOO in hardcover in Autumn 2010 and in mass market paperback for Summer 2011. Editor Leah Woodburn sees Julia Crouch as an author who will build into a bestselling female suspense author. Julia Crouch plans to write one new thriller each year. She already has started writing her second novel, BLOOD WILL HAVE BLOOD.
