Archives par étiquette : David Black Literary Agency

THE INVISIBLE HAND OF MARIA EDGEWORTH de Jeanna Smialek

The untold story of the nineteenth-century novelist who outearned Jane Austen and wove provocative theories into her fiction—changing economics forever.

THE INVISIBLE HAND OF MARIA EDGEWORTH:
How a Nineteenth-Century Novelist Taught the World Economics
by Jeanna Smialek
Knopf, October2026
(via David Black Agency)

At the end of the eighteenth century, Europe faced revolutions, famine, and war. It was out of this chaos that the field of economics was born—and while that founding has for centuries been attributed almost entirely to men, they were only part of the story. 

Maria Edgeworth, known to her contemporaries as “the Great Maria,” was one of the most important authors of the Regency era, envied by Lord Byron, admired by Jane Austen, and read avidly by the British royalty. But she was more than just a novelist and a society fixture: She was also a covert economist, working just after Adam Smith and alongside her friends David Ricardo and Thomas Malthus. As the earliest economists established their philosophies on production and investment, Edgeworth published dozens of stories, many with lessons on finance, society, and trade tucked into their plots. Through her fiction, Edgeworth delivered new ideas to a broader public, stretching the boundaries of what a woman of her time could achieve and captivating an empire in the process.

Here, her tale is told alongside those of the men—and women—who invented a field that would reshape our world. Lively and original, The Invisible Hand of Maria Edgeworth brings this astonishing woman and her world vividly to life and rewrites the origin story of modern economics.

“Whoever thought economics could be such a joy to read? Maria Edgeworth may have written the novels, but Jeanna Smialek’s book brings them—and their world—to life. Take a fascinating voyage with Ricardo, Malthus, and Maria, from the age of the American, French, and Industrial revolutions to the Great Irish Famine, and learn some economics along the way.” —Claudia Goldin, Nobel Prize laureate in Economics and author of Career and Family: Women’s Century-Long Journey Toward Equity

“Revelatory and riveting—an original perspective on the history of economic thought that will change how you see today’s economy, and a pleasure to read from start to finish.” —Jason Furman, Professor of Economics at Harvard University and Former Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers

Jeanna Smialek is the Brussels bureau chief at The New York Times. She has covered economic policy in one way or another since 2013, and is the author of Limitless, a book on the history and future of the Federal Reserve. She has previously written for Bloomberg News and Bloomberg Businessweek. A native of Pittsburgh, Smialek has spent most of her career in New York City and Washington, D.C., and now lives in Belgium with her husband.

MAGGIE MAYBE de Stephanie Webb

A coming-of-middle-age novel about two women who get a second chance to rewrite their lives—only to discover that their real stories were never flawed, just unfinished. For readers of Emma Straub and Catherine Newman.

MAGGIE MAYBE
by Stephanie Webb
Gallery, Summer 2027
(via David Black Agency)

When thirty-nine-year-old Maggie Mabey reads the opening of a novel-in-progress by her favorite author Savannah Greenstem, she is stunned to find her own life playing out on the page. She passes out and wakes up in an alternate reality where all her professional aspirations have come true: she’s a bookstore owner and a successful author, just as she’d always dreamed of being. The only problem? Her kids don’t exist. And her husband? He’s never heard of her.

Even though sixty-two-year old Savannah Greenstem has written dozens of books, she’s barely typed a word since the death of her late husband five years ago. But her writers block isn’t due to a broken heart; instead, she’s wrecked by the realization that she was never really in love with him in the first place. Years ago, she’d given up the great love of her life—Wilder Sinclair—to become the successful writer she was destined to be. Although she doesn’t exactly regret her choices, she does long for the life she might have had. But now, in this alternate world she’s found herself in, she and Wilder are together and it’s so much better than she could have imagined.

Desperate to return to the life she had before, Maggie finds Savannah and tries to convince her to rewrite her story. But Savannah doesn’t want to leave her own fantasy, even if it means keeping Maggie here against her will. As Maggie’s and Savannah’s fictional lives unravel—and entangle—in unexpected and delightful ways, they each must confront what they’ve been running from, ultimately discovering that the stories we tell ourselves can either trap us or, if we pay attention, give us the insight we need to remake our lives.

Stephanie Webb is a graduate of The Book Incubator and works as the marketing director for the program alongside authors Mary Adkins and Rufi Thorpe (who will certainly blurb). She earned her BA in English Literature and her MS in Holistic Nutrition. She was a finalist for the Women’s Fiction Writers’ Association Rising Star Award and has a growing social media platform with almost 14,000 Instagram followers.

BURNOUT de Michael Cooper

A debut literary novel about a down-on-his-luck former detective in LA whose most famous case comes back to haunt him.

BURNOUT
by Michael Cooper
Range Literary Publishing, 2027
(via David Black Literary)

Former Detective James Rivers—JR to his friends—has long left behind his career. He has surfed off into the easy life: hiding out in an Airstream with an ocean view, downing one glittering-green Midori after another, caring for his bulldog and his old man, taking each L.A. day as it comes. But when he learns that convicted murderer Dylan Turner has been let out of prison, a lock unlatches in his brain. He has always known—hasn’t he?—that something wasn’t right with that case, but he never figured Dylan would go free. Was his most famous case his worst mistake? And if so, how will he protect the brother who betrayed Dylan? And how will JR save himself if Dylan comes for him? Pressed back into action by his old-partner-turned-chief-of-police, JR is teamed up with Brittany Charles, a young detective with an unflinching sense of justice and no patience for a has-been’s hesitation. As new victims of brutal murder surface, JR and Britt realize that the clock is ticking.

BURNOUT is the vivid and absorbing story of a man who must face his worst mistakes and discover what’s on the other side. A detective story for our moment, this tale centers on an unruly and vulnerable man, a tarnished knight with a heart that’s been chipped and cracked but not shattered, a man tiptoeing towards sobriety and a more honest life. Fueled by day-glo dialogue, brilliantly vivid humor, one-of-a-kind characters, and vast quantities of heart, BURNOUT is a raw and blistering ballad—about ancient mistakes and lingering regrets, about violence and what crawls beneath it, but also about the life-saving possibilities of empathy, hope, and love.

THE PARATHA PROJECT de Priya Krishna

A memoir and also a rallying cry and how-to for having difficult conversations with your parents by New York Times bestselling author and NYT food reporter, former restaurant critic and video host.

THE PARATHA PROJECT:
A Radical Experiment in Talking to My Parents
by Priya Krishna
Little, Brown, Spring 2028
(via the David Black Agency)

In her highly-anticipated debut narrative nonfiction book, Emmy-nominated New York Times journalist and bestselling author of Indian-ish, Priya’s Kitchen Adventures, and Cooking at Home (with David Chang), Priya Krishna turns her incisive eye and her reporter’s mic to the untold story of her own parents. Despite all of the public-facing closeness, a family crisis made Priya realize she never really knew her parents at all. She will do what for many of us would feel impossible and even radical: ask the uncomfortable questions to get to the real answer. In The Paratha Project, Priya challenges every assumption she ever made about her parents’ story—one she always believed was a straightforward trajectory of hardworking immigrants coming to the States, finding professional success, and achieving the American Dream. Question by question, a more complex and revealing history emerges.

As Priya reexamines her family’s past, the book engages deeply universal themes of intergenerational misunderstanding, parental expectation, grief, and the search for belonging. It speaks to anyone who has ever felt both close to and distant from their family. Through explorations of legacy, assimilation, and, of course, food, Priya’s search for truth about her parents becomes a search for truth about herself.

Both a deeply personal narrative and a rallying cry, The Paratha Project invites readers to initiate paradigm-shifting conversations with their own parents before it’s too late. With humor, insight, and emotional clarity—and an addendum of 22 Questions To Ask Your Parents designed to spark expansive, surprising dialogue—the book offers a compelling story and a practical framework for forging deeper intergenerational connection.

Priya Krishna is a food reporter, former restaurant critic, and video host for the New York Times. She is also the New York Times bestselling author of three cookbooks, Priya’s Kitchen Adventures, Cooking at Home (with David Chang), and Indian-ish, the latter of which has sold over 145,000 copies. Prior to working at the Times, Priya was a popular member of the Bon Appetit test kitchen and played a pivotal role in the reckoning on racial injustice at the magazine in 2020. Her work has been nominated for a James Beard Award and an IACP award, and her reported essays have been included in the 2019 and 2021 versions of The Best American Food Writing. She has been nominated for an Emmy for her work hosting the NYT video series “On the Job,” which spotlights the unseen labor of the food industry. Through speaking engagements across the country, her built-in platform of the NYT, and her 500k social media followers, Priya is a definitive voice on food, culture, and identity. 

THE ATHLETE CODE de Joe Lemire

A debut nonfiction by a Sports Business Journal writer Joe Lemire, THE ATHLETE CODE explores the fast-changing world of tech- and data-driven athlete development and injury prevention, using vivid narrative and experiential journalism to chronicle humanity’s progress in these areas. For fans of The Sports Gene and Born To Run.

THE ATHLETE CODE:
Biohacking the Limits of Human Performance
by Joe Lemire
St. Martin’s Press, Spring 2028
(via the David Black Agency)

From our Apple Watches to our Oura Rings, wearable tech is everywhere. But where is performance technology going? And with its help, how far can we push the human body?

THE ATHLETE CODE by Joe Lemire will explore these questions while taking readers on an enlightening journey of data and devices, breakthroughs and revelations, vivid anecdotes and memorable characters—and even his own admirable athletic efforts.

Athletes, coaches, and trainers have always tried to turn scientific breakthrough into on-the-field advantage. But historically that has happened by way of more effective equipment, better nutrition, and data that outsmarts conventional wisdom. Now, the fertile ground for a tech- and data-driven edge is in player development and injury prevention. And the sports tech industry is on the precipice of realizing the Holy Grail potential of two goals that long seemed mutually exclusive: performance and durability.

We are witnessing a golden era of sports performance, as new technologies are allowing athletes to reach unprecedented heights. These devices monitor, analyze and predict athlete form and performance in increasingly more precise and less invasive ways—and as a result, they help their subjects push the boundaries of what humans can achieve.

THE ATHLETE CODE will chronicle humanity’s progress in these areas, including:

• The data-driven development of the fittest man in world history.
• The implementation of the first real-time injury detection system capable of identifying muscle, ligament or tendon tears minutes before they happen.
• Insole sensors that can detect asymmetrical movement and advanced motion-capture analysis, both of which have been used by some of the world’s fastest sprinters.
• Bluetooth-connected EEG caps that enable athletes to play video games with their mind to train concentration and decision-making.
• Biomechanical analysis that helped turn a walk-on college baseball player into an ACC Pitcher of the Year, the No. 7 overall MLB draft pick, and a future ace.

Lemire will bring this reporting to life with absorbing stories (the remarkable tale of a professional baseball team’s injury-free season), dozens of exclusive interviews (including with Olympic gold medalists, world-renowned runners, and baseball Hall-of-Famers), and Plimptonian experiential journalism (he has used augmented reality glasses while running and AR goggles while swimming, exercised while wearing as many as four different sensors, and trained with a pocket-sized radar and a smartphone-based biomechanical analysis to raise his fastball to 82 mph.).

There is a strong history of readers devouring books about the intersection of sport and science, including David Epstein’s The Sports Gene and Range, James Nestor’s Breath, Jeff Passan’s The Arm, and Alex Hutchinson’s Endure. THE ATHLETE CODE will attract readers of those books; it will also be required reading for coaches and trainers across sports and levels of competition, as well as for weekend warrior athletes across the country.

Joe Lemire is a reporter for Sports Business Journal, and the country’s only devoted sports technology writer. He began his career with Sports Illustrated as an entry-level reporter, quickly ascending the ranks to become the youngest writer on the magazine’s masthead. He has contributed to the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times and USA Today, and has appeared regularly on the MLB Network. He specializes in stories that distill complicated concepts into accessible ideas and blend objective research with engaging anecdotes for a thorough and compelling exploration of a topic.