Sterling Lord Trifecta

An auction conducted by Sterling Lord's Chris Calhoun for Mary Beth Keane's debut novel, The Walking People, culminated with Jane Rosenman at Houghton winning North American rights. Keane's story of Irish emigration from the early 1950s to present-day New York is said to be reminiscent of Edna O'Brien. Keane was Calhoun's assistant at Sterling Lord for three years, where she began as a receptionist; she was originally introduced to Calhoun by her teacher at Barnard, Mary Gordon. Pub date is spring 2009.

Elsewhere at Sterling Lord, Rebecca Friedman just wrapped up an auction for Annia Ciezadlo's Day of Honey, with Wylie O'Sullivan at the Free Press taking North American rights. This debut memoir will explore the heightened meaning of food during wartime through the story of Ciezadlo, who went with her brand-new journalist husband to war-torn Baghdad and Beirut, where for three years she cooked and ate with Shiites, Sunnis, refugees, patriarchs and mullahs. Pub date is September 2009.

Charlotte Sheedy sold North American rights to Pulitzer winner Laurie Garrett's Scared Sick to Harmony's John Glusman. Garrett, author of the bestselling The Coming Plague, will offer a passionate indictment of the state of the world's health in the wake of 9/11, touching on threats presented by pandemic flu, SARS, AIDS, E.coli, drug-resistant staph infections, bioterrorism and a compromised CDC, all presaging a looming crisis with dire national security consequences. Garrett will also suggest practical solutions to improve our global health. Tentative pub date is fall 2009.

Saving Marriages

Touchstone's Zachary Schisgal just won a reportedly heated auction for Elle editor Laurie Abraham's The Thin Line Between Love and Hate: A Year Inside Group Therapy with Five Couples Trying to Save Their Marriages; Eric Simonoff at Janklow & Nesbit sold North American rights. The book will expand on Abraham's front-page August New York Times Magazine article, exploring the lives of five emblematic, troubled marriages over the course of a year, while also reporting on the state of the American marriage today. No pub date yet, as the author is just starting to write.

More from McCarthy on Autism

Actress Jenny McCarthy, who documents her struggle with her son's autism in the current bestseller Louder than Words, has made a new deal with Trena Keating at Dutton for an untitled companion autism book in which she'll share hope and recovery stories from parents across the country. The book will also continue McCarthy's and her son's journey through autism, the new treatments they're trying and how their lives are evolving. Jennifer Rudolph Walsh sold world rights, and a fall 2008 pub is planned.

Frankfurt Winners

Two novels that caused a stir in Frankfurt now have U.S. deals in place. Peternelle van Arsdale at Putnam won an auction for Debra Adelaide's The Household Guide to Dying via Phyllis Westberg at Harold Ober. The novel explores how a household advice columnist dying of cancer decides to organize her last months—and her husband's and children's future lives without her—the same way she has organized her home. The book is Adelaide's first to be published in the U.S. Putnam plans a 2009 release, with Berkley paperback to follow.

Houghton's Anton Mueller beat out three other publishers in an auction for Laleh Khadivi's The Age of Orphans; Trident's Ellen Levine made the six-figure, two-book U.S. rights deal. Khadivi's debut novel is the first in a proposed Kurdish trilogy and depicts Iran under military rule as well as life in a Kurdish village through the story of a Kurdish boy who grows up to become a captain in the shah's army. Houghton plans an early 2009 publication.

How to Dress

Springboard's Karen Murgolo preempted North American rights to Kim Johnson Gross's What to Wear for the Rest of Your Life via agent Janis Donnaud. In this guide, part wardrobe tips and part life advice, co-creator of the Chic Simple series Gross will examine the life changes women experience as they navigate middle age and how these changes are (and should be) reflected in their closets. Tentative pub date is fall 2009.

The Briefing

Brettne Bloom and Steve Wasserman at Kneerim & Williams sold the next book by Middle East expert Juan Cole; Alessandra Bastagli at Palgrave Macmillan bought world English rights. The book will address the future of the region, offering advice to the next administration on how to end this clash of civilizations. Palgrave published Cole's previous book, Napoleon's Egypt, in August.... Portfolio's Adrian Zackheim bought world rights to Silicon Valley lawyer Gary Reback's Free the Market, an argument for greater government intervention in the free market, based on first-hand accounts of famous high-tech antitrust trials. Wendy Strothman made the deal, and Jeffrey Krames will edit. Pub date is early 2009.