German Debut Drawing Attention
German Daniela Tully's War Fairy, which was written in English, has sold in a preempt to Italy's Garzanti, and to Gads Forlag in Denmark. Pontas Literary & Film Agency controls all rights and, in submission materials, said the debut novel opens with "one of the most surprising scenes that you’ll ever read.” The novel alternates between Germany in the 1930s and the present-day Catskills and centers on a woman named Martha who receives a letter from her twin brother, a German soldier who died in World War II over forty years earlier. The letter, the agency explained, "uncovers a mystery that Martha had buried long ago, along with painful memories of being a young woman during the rise of the Third Reich."

Italian Thriller Sparks Flurry of Pre-Fair Deals
The Substance of Evil by Luca D’Andrea has become one of the hottest international books in the run-up to this week's London Book Fair. At press time, 18 sales had closed on the book, with deals inked in Italy (Einaudi), the Netherlands (Xander), Brazil (Intrinseca), and the U.K. (MacLehose Press). Rights to the book are controlled by Piergiorgio Nicolazzini Literary Agency (PNLA). The novel is set in the mountains of Alto Adige, where a gruesome triple murder occurred in 1985. Thirty years later, an American documentary filmmaker becomes determined the solve the case. Einaudi/Stile Libero will publish in June 2016.

French Love Story Sells in Germany
France's JC Lattès will publish the love story Now Let’s Dance by Karine Lambert on May 4. Deals for the novel have been made with Heyne in Germany and Mamaya in Greece. At press time, there were are also offers in on the book from publishers in Italy. In the novel, a man and a woman--each dealing with the death of their previous partner--meet at a spa and fall in love. The author’s previous novel, published in France as L'immeuble des femmes qui ont renoncé aux hommes, sold over 100,000 copies.

Spanish Novel Heats Up Abroad; Sells to Ecco
Yoro by Marina Perezagua, published in Spain in 2015 by Libros del Lince, was recently preempted by Elisabetta Sgarbi at La Nave di Teseo in Italy. Casanovas & Lynch Agencia Literaria controls rights, and North American rights have sold to Ecco. The narrator of Yoro is referred to simply as H., and is a child when the atomic bomb is dropped on Hiroshima in 1945. The book follows H. and another protagonist, an American soldier and former POW in Japan, whose paths cross in present-day New York.