Archives par étiquette : The Friedrich Agency

THE LOVE AN ABALONE FEELS FOR THE SEA de Genki Ferguson

Take a cool dive into the waters of coastal Japan, the setting for Genki Ferguson’s exquisitely rendered coming-of-age novel, featuring traditional “ama” freedivers.

THE LOVE AN ABALONE FEELS FOR THE SEA
by Genki Ferguson
Counterpoint, Spring 2027
(via The Friedrich Agency)

During one fateful dive, Nagisa, a determined young woman joins the ama—who dive to depths of up to 65 feet without any scuba gear to hunt abalone and other shellfish —and doesn’t return to the surface.

Ren Ioka, Nagisa’s seventeen year old brother, finds himself unmoored by grief and uncertainty upon his sister’s disappearance. But after discovering an unsent love letter written by Nagisa years earlier, Ren becomes convinced that this confession holds the secret behind her inexplicable final dive.

In the process of retracing his sister’s hidden love, Ren meets Aiko, an inscrutable ama who once dove with Nagisa. As Ren gradually uncovers the truth behind his sister’s confession, he finds himself falling for Aiko, not realizing that she’s harboring a secret herself.

Genki Ferguson is a Canadian-Japanese writer and filmmaker, who spent the Spring of 2023 immersed in the world of ama divers in Mie, Japan, and based much of this story on his experiences living and working in their village. Genki’s previous novel, Satellite Love, was published in 2021 by McClelland & Stewart to critical acclaim and several award nominations.

WILD GRIEF d’Emily Polk

A window of light into the strange, poignant, and sometime hilarious habits of other creatures, and what humans can take away from these practices—leaving readers with a sense of relief, comfort, and hope; perfect for fans of Ed Yong and Sy Montgomery.

WILD GRIEF: Animal Lessons on Loss
by Emily Polk
Putnam, Fall 2027
(via The Friedrich Agency)

WILD GRIEF explores how wild animals experience and respond to loss, while revealing how the customs and rituals of grief in the more-than-human world can help us process our own personal and ecological pain. Blending personal narrative, cultural mythologies, and folklore with the most recent science from leading experts in comparative thanatology—the emerging scientific field on nonhuman animal responses to the dead and the dying—Emily Polk takes readers to animal sanctuaries, the world’s largest pet cemetery, a falconry training center, and the Cavy Clubs Championship Guinea Pig Show, to name a few.

WILD GRIEF presents cutting-edge research while taking readers by the hand with humor and hope to illuminate how connecting with the world outside ourselves can allow us to better take care of one another, and our ailing planet.

Emily Polk currently serves on the faculty of the Program in Writing and Rhetoric at Stanford University and as the Writing and Arts Coordinator for Stanford’s Doerr School of Sustainability. She holds a Ph.D. in Communication from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Before Stanford, she worked internationally as a human rights and environment-focused writer and editor.

ENORMOUS WINGS de Laurie Frankel

An urgent novel about female agency and bodily autonomy, morality, and mortality, combined with Laurie Frankel’s signature warmth and wit.

ENORMOUS WINGS
by Laurie Frankel
Holt, May 2026
(via The Friedrich Agency)

At seventy-seven, Pepper Mills is too old to be a stranger in a strange land. She didn’t choose the Vista View Retirement Community of Austin, Texas—that would be her three grown children—but when she grudgingly moves in, she not only makes new friends, she falls in love. Then the exhaustion, vomiting, and confusion start. Her children and grandchildren worry it’s cancer, dementia, a stroke. But a raft of tests later, the news is even more shocking: she’s pregnant.

Once word gets out, everyone wants a piece of her: the press and the paparazzi, activists and medical researchers, all descending on Vista View as Pepper tries to determine her next move. Soon Pepper has some hard decisions to make—and some she’s not allowed to make.

Laurie Frankel is the New York Times bestselling, award-winning author of the novels Family Family, One Two Three, Goodbye for Now, The Atlas of Love, and the Reese’s Book Club Pick This Is How It Always Is. Frankel lives in Seattle with her husband, daughter, and border collie. She makes good soup.

IN EVERY BIRD: BEFORE THE GARDEN de Katy Sewall

Sold in a heated 9-person auction in the US, right before Frankfurt, a prequel to Frances Hodgson Burnett’s classic The Secret Garden, for fans of Broken Country and The Thornbirds.

IN EVERY BIRD: BEFORE THE GARDEN
by Katy Sewall
Random House, Spring 2027
(via The Friedrich Agency)

A sweeping emotional tale and love story. IN EVERY BIRD: BEFORE THE GARDEN begins at the moment The Secret Garden starts—just as a cholera epidemic is sweeping through India—except this time, we flash back into the life of Mary Lennox’s mother, and the boy who will help her realize how expansive life can be.

“I was captivated and charmed by Katy Sewall’s debut novel, which more than does justice to its classic inspiration. I came into this book knowing as much about The Secret Garden as I did the Olive Garden, but by the end, I wanted nothing more than to stay a little longer in her rich and insightful world.” — Jess Walter, bestselling author of Beautiful Ruins

Katy Sewall is a writer and radio professional based in Seattle. She spent more than two decades working with NPR and currently hosts a weekly podcast called The Bittersweet Life, now in its 11th year.

SALT WATER BLOOD de Manuia Heinrich

Inspired by the impact of France’s nuclear tests on the people of Mā‘ohi Nui, SALT WATER BLOOD is a YA thriller set on an alternate Polynesian island for fans of Angeline Boulley’s Firekeeper’s Daughter and Disney’s Moana.

SALT WATER BLOOD
by Manuia Heinrich
Simon & Schuster, 2026
(via The Friedrich Agency)

Eighteen-year-old Moe hears the sea’s prophetic thoughts. Correction: Moe doesn’t just hear them—the sea makes Moe feel them. This is how Moe learned years ago that her father would drown and her mother would abandon her and her younger brother, Tao. So, when the sea warns that Tao will follow their father’s fate, Moe is determined to secure them a way off the island. All those plans fall a part when Tao’s girlfriend is then found dead and Tao is blamed.

As incriminating evidence piles up, Moe will do all she can to protect the only family she has left, even if it means swallowing her pride and teaming up with her archenemy Temanea. Even if it means relying on the sea and its prophecies—because her dreaded gift might be the only way to stop the killer.

Manuia Heinrich holds a PhD in Pacific Studies and is the co-founder of APIpit and Pacific Islanders in Publishing. She is a We Need Diverse Books mentee, and was selected for the Write Mentor and New Zealand Society of Authors program. She currently lives in Aotearoa/New Zealand.