Publishing Deals - Casey & Cardetti

A couple of recent publishing deals as reported by BookBrunch:

Gillian Green of Ebury has pre-empted UK/Commonwealth rights (with Europe exclusive) in PAST GRIEF (2010) and a second crime novel by debut author and Macmillan editor Jane Casey from agent Simon Trewin at United Agents, for an undisclosed sum. Past Grief tells the story of a young schoolteacher, Sarah Finch, who discovers the body of one of her young pupils lying in the woods. The shock and trauma of this event force her to confront feelings she has tried to suppress for many years about the disappearance of her own brother, Charlie, when she was only seven. Read more about it here.

Rowan Cope of Abacus has bought UK/Commonwealth rights in DEATH IN THE LATIN QUARTER by Raphaël Cardetti from Univers Poch, which published the novel in France last month. Cardetti is 35 and lives in Paris, where he is a professor of Italian Studies, specialising in the Renaissance.

Set in contemporary Paris, Cardetti's story about the pursuit of a rare medieval manuscript is "a literary adventure through the shadowy courtyards of the Sorbonne and the narrow streets and gloomily palatial mansions of the Latin Quarter. With a cast of engaging characters, including Valentine Savi, a spirited young restorer, and Elias Stern, an enigmatic art dealer and bibliophile, and several mysterious murders, Death in the Latin Quarter is a page-turning read," says Cope.

Sonia Soto, who has translated Arturo Perez-Reverte and Guillermo Martínez, has been commissioned to undertake the translation, and the novel will be published as an Abacus trade paperback original in May 2010.