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BORN WEIRD d’Andrew Kaufman

From the author of the international bestselling All My Friends Are Superheroes!

BORN WEIRD
by Andrew Kaufman
The Friday Project/HarperCollins, December 2012
(via The Rights Factory)

The Weirds have always been a little peculiar, but not one of them ever suspected that they’d been cursed.

At the moment of the births of her five grandchildren Annie Weir gave each one a special power she thought was a blessing. Richard, the oldest, would always keep safe; Abba would always have hope; Lucy would never get lost and Kent would be able to beat anyone in a fight. As for Angie, she would always forgive, instantly. But over the years these blessings turned out to be curses that ruined their lives.

Now Annie is dying and she has one last task for Angie: gather her far-flung brothers and sisters and assemble them in her grandmother’s hospital room so that at the moment of her death, she can lift these blessings-turned-curses. And Angie has just two weeks to do it.

What follows is a quest like no other, tearing up highways and racing through airports, from a sketchy Winnipeg nursing home to the small island kingdom Upliffta, from the family’s crumbling ancestral mansion in Toronto to a motel called Love. Along the way, Angie searches for the answer to the greatest family mystery of all: what really happened to their father, whose maroon Maserati was fished out of a lake so many years ago?

Andrew Kaufman is the author of All My Friends Are Superheroes, The Tiny Wife, The Waterproof Bible, and Born Weird. He was born in Wingham, Ontario, the birthplace of Alice Munro, making him the second-best writer from a town of 3000. His work has been published in eleven countries and translated into nine languages. He is also an accomplished screenwriter and lives in Toronto with his wife and their two children.

THE MEMOIRS of VALMIKI RAO de Lindsay Pereira

A masterful retelling of the ancient Sanskrit epic, the Ramayana, THE MEMOIRS of VALMIKI RAO explores themes of religious and political hypocrisy and how the disadvantaged are used as pawns to fight the wars of the powerful.

THE MEMOIRS of VALMIKI RAO
by Lindsay Pereira
Vintage Books/Penguin Random House India, August 2023
(via The Rights Factory)

Madeline Miller’s Circe meets Rushdie’s Midnight Children with a dash of the whimsy and caper of Wes Anderson, THE MEMOIRS of VALMIKI RAO is about young love and the loss of innocence set against the backdrop of one of the most tumultuous periods of modern Indian history. In a nondescript apartment in a corner of Mumbai, a retired postman, Valmiki Rao, reflects on a month in 1992. A month in which a mosque burned and religious extremism reigned. A month in which young men took up arms against their brothers and made enemies of neighbours. A month which would have long-lasting effects on modern India. It was a time when blood flowed on the streets and men and women gave up their lives for invisible gods.

In writing his memoirs of this period, Valmiki Rao tells the story of Rameshwar, a neighbourhood hero, and the young woman he loves, Janaki, who is also coveted by the local thug Ravindra. As the city burns around them, Rameshwar must risk everything to rescue Janaki from Ravindra’s grasp, an act which will ultimately impact the lives of everyone in the neighbourhood forever.

Lindsay Pereira is a Toronto-based journalist and editor. He studied at St. Xavier’s College and the University of Bombay and holds a PhD in literature. He was co-editor with the late Eunice de Souza of Women’s Voices (Oxford University Press). His first novel, GODS and ENDS (Penguin Random House India) was shortlisted for the 2021 JCB Prize for Literature, and Tata Literature Live! First Book Award for Fiction. His short story collection SONGS OUR BODIES SING (Penguin Random House India) will be published in 2024. World English Rights excluding the Indian sub-continent are available for both.

THE BLACK HUNGER de Nicholas Pullen

THE BLACK HUNGER by Nicholas Pullen is an electric, nightmare-inducing 120,000-word horror meets historical fiction debut.

THE BLACK HUNGER
by Nicholas Pullen
Orbit, Autumn 2024
(via The Rights Factory)

This expertly interwoven story follows three wellmeaning men and their dealings with a death-worshipping cult, the Dhaumri Karoti, bent upon the absolute destruction of our world.

Almost fifty years after the grisly murder of a respected general, and the subsequent disappearance of the general’s purportedly delusional wife, John Sackville rots in the dark cell of an English asylum, aware that soon he will be forever changed. He bears two wounds: the one that festers underneath his skin, and the one deep within his heart. In his last testament, Sackville chronicles the story of his life. It is a story steeped in history and myth, scattered across India, Tibet, and Mongolia, and interweaving his secret, passionate affair with the man he has loved since boyhood with his stand against the leaders of the Dhaumri Karoti.

With a rich atmosphere influenced by Stoker and Shelley, this epistolary blend of Gothic and Lovecraftian horror has broad appeal. It is a fright-fest perfect for fans of Clarke’s JONATHAN STRANGE AND MR NORRELL and Miéville’s THE LAST DAYS OF NEW PARIS. An exceptional harnessing of madness—and one wild ride.

Nicholas Pullen was born and raised in Toronto, and educated at Oxford and McGill. A writer since early childhood, Nicholas now fashions stories out of shadows, madness, and historical truths. Outside of writing, his professional life has been spent working toward Truth and Reconciliation in the Canadian Public Service, as a treaty negotiator with Indigenous Peoples. He speaks fluent French and enjoys scuba diving on shipwrecks in Georgian Bay. A Canada Council for the Arts Grant Recipient, his short fiction has appeared in the Toronto Star (Famous Blue), the Copperfield Review (Hellulandsaga), and Anti-Heroin Chic (Relapse/Grindr).

THE HOUSEHOLD de Stacey Halls

From the Sunday Times bestseller and winner of the Women’s Prize Futures Award, the captivating, highly anticipated new novel, inspired by real historical figures and events..

THE HOUSEHOLD
by Stacey Halls
April 2024
(via Mushens Entertainment)

In a quiet house in the countryside outside London, the finishing touches are being made to welcome a group of young women. The house and its location are top secret, its residents unknown to one another, but the girls have one thing in common: they are fallen. Offering refuge for prostitutes, petty thieves and the destitute, Urania Cottage is a second chance at life – but how badly do they want it?

Meanwhile, a few miles away in a Piccadilly mansion, millionairess Angela Burdett-Coutts, one of the benefactors of Urania Cottage, makes a discovery that leaves her cold: her stalker of 10 years has been released from prison . . .

As the women’s worlds collide in ways they could never have expected, they will discover that freedom always comes at a price.

Stacey Halls has worked as a journalist at The Bookseller and Fabulous Magazine, and has written for publications including Stylist, Psychologies and The Independent. She has won the Women’s Prize Futures Award. Her debut novel, The Familiars, was a Sunday Times Bestseller and was a Richard and Judy pick. Her second novel, The Foundling, was a Sunday Times Bestseller.

THE WOMAN IN THE WALLPAPER de Lora Jones

A propulsive historical debut for fans of The Miniaturist and The Doll Factory, following three women living at a textiles factory in late eighteenth-century Paris.

THE WOMAN IN THE WALLPAPER
by Lora Jones
Sphere, 2025
(via Mushens Entertainment)

After the death of their father, gentle Lara and headstrong Sofi find work at a factory renowned for the intricate illustrations on their wallpaper. They quickly notice that the same woman appears in every idyllic vignette: the former mistress of the house, who met an untimely death years before and who bears more than a passing resemblance to Lara.

As the sisters adapt to the rhythms of life at the factory, Lara attracts the attention of the factory owner’s son, Josef, and the scorn of his unhappy wife, Hortense. Lara soon realises there is something uncannily familiar about her interactions with Josef and that her life is mirroring the scenes illustrated on the wallpaper that lines her bedchamber.

As the strange occurrences surrounding the wallpaper become ever more unnerving, Lara finds herself wondering: is history is repeating itself and, if so, will she share the same tragic fate as her doppelgänger, a fate that seems to be, literally, written on the wall?

After studying English Literature at the University of Durham, Lora Jones began her career in the TV industry, reading scripts and writing for ITV, the BBC, Channel 4 and others. Lora lives in the rugged, myth-steeped hills of North Wales. The Woman in the Wallpaper is her first novel.