Italian Novel Emerges as Hot LBF Title
Coming out of the just-wrapped London Book Fair, one novel that had people talking was Story of A Decent Family by Rosa Ventrella, which will be published this month by Newton Compton in Italy. The book has sold to Xander Uitgevers (the Netherlands), Suma/ Penguin/ Random House (Spain) and Patakis (Greece). Rights to the novel, which is about the relationship between a woman and a man who is a member of an organized crime family, are controlled by Italy's Malatesta Agency.

Dutch Thriller Sells in Germany
The debut thriller Recollection, by Dutch producer Kasper van Beek, has sold to Goldmann Verlag in Germany. The book follows a man whose life is falling apart, and it all starts when he is sent a photo of himself in Finland, a place he thought he had never before visited, with a man he has never met before. He begins a search for the man in the photograph. Rights to the book are controlled by the originating publisher, De Bezige Bij/Cargo.

French Title on Confidence Heats Up
The new book from the author of The Virtue's of Failure, Charles Pépin's Self-Confidence: A Philosophy, has just sold to La Nave di Teseo in Italy. There are also offers in on the book from publishers in multiple countries including Spain, Germany, and Korea. The book was published in France, in March, by Allary Editions. Self-Confidence draws on principles of psychology and philosophy to pinpoint the origins of self-confidence, and explain how it works. Rights to the book are controlled by 2 Seas Literary Agency.

Finnish Novel Sold in France
A Whale Called Goliath by Cristina Sandu has sold to Robert Laffont in France. The book, which was published in September 2017 by Otava, was nominated for the Finlandia Prize, the prestigious award given by the Finnish Book Foundation. The author is of Finnish and Romanian descent, and the book is set in a Romanian village that has a history of legends and myths. The Finnish agency Rights and Brands controls all rights to the book.