Swedish Debut Draws Bidders
Don’t Ask for Mercy by Martin Österdahl, a debut thriller drawing comparisons to the works of Tom Clancy and Jo Nesbö, is interesting publishers outside the author's native Sweden. The book was published by Swedish house Forum last month and is about the threat the country faces from Russia. So far, the Nordin Agency has sold the book to Ambo Anthos (the Netherlands), Blanvalet/Random House (Germany), Hayakawa (Japan), as well as to publishers in Denmark, Spain, Norway, and Finland. The novel follows a man who travels to Russia to find his girlfriend, who has gone missing in St. Petersburg.

French Novel Gaining Sales Abroad
France’s Bragelonne Books has been selling Chloe Duval’s Le Temps Volé to several international publishers, including Kensington (USA), btb (Germany) and Proszynski (Poland). The women’s fiction title follows a romance novelist who discovers a love letter that was never sent. Moved by the letter, which was written over 40 years ago, the novelist decides to try to locate the couple it depicts, in order to reunite them. The publisher currently has an offer on the book in from Italy.

Korean Thriller Makes the Rounds
Barbara J. Zitwer of the Barbara J. Zitwer Agency is handling rights for The Plotters by Un-su Kim, which was originally published by Korean house Munhakdongne Publishers. World English rights have sold to Text Publishers (Australia), for publication in Spring 2017, and French rights have sold to Philippe Picquier. The book is about mastermind "plotters" who develop assassination plots for the government.

Dutch Book Week Gift Sells Abroad
Brother by Esther Gerritsen has sold to Albin Michel in France. The title was the gift of this year's Dutch Book Week, a 10-day literary event in the Netherlands in which a well-known writer is asked to pen a book that is then given away in book shops (when customers spend EUR 12.50 or more on another Dutch book). The novella--it's 96 pages--is about the relationship between a brother and sister and how their lives change when he learns his leg might have to be amputated. Rights previously sold to Aufbau in Germany, at auction. 2 Seas Agency handles rights for the book on behalf of Dutch publisher De Geus.