Love Letters

Clarkson Potter's Doris Cooper has preempted Bill Shapiro's Other People's Love Letters from Brian DeFiore at DeFiore & Co., who sold North American rights. This will be an illustrated book that collects provocative (but anonymous) contemporary love letters, written by ordinary people falling both in and out of love, to create a voyeuristic look at contemporary passion. Shapiro is presently editor of Life magazine; the inspiration for the book came from his discovery of a love letter from another man to Shapiro's former girlfriend. Clarkson Potter plans to publish in fall 2007.

Killer Novelists

Viking's Josh Kendall has just acquired North American rights to Gregg Hurwitz's newest, untitled thriller, from Lisa Erbach Vance at Aaron Priest. Hurwitz, author of the Tim Rackley series (Last Shot; Troubleshooter) published by Morrow, introduces a new protagonist, a successful crime novelist in L.A. accused of murdering his ex-fiancée. Pub date is slated for summer 2007.

Betsy Lerner at Dunow, Carlson & Lerner has sold a novel by Eli Gottlieb titled Now You See Him to Henry Ferris at Morrow, who bought world minus U.K. It's about a brutal murder committed by a maverick novelist who acquired fame at an early age, but is unable to repeat his early success. Gottlieb is also the author of the coming-of-age novel The Boy Who Went Away (St. Martin's, 1997).

Catholic and Democratic

Basic's Lara Heimert has acquired Left at the Altar: How the Democrats Lost the Catholics and the Catholics Can Save the Democrats by Michael Sean Winters; Lisa Adams at the Garamond Agency sold world rights. A religion scholar and former speech writer for Democratic candidates including Gen. Wesley Clark, Winters will parse the downfall of the Democratic-Catholic alliance in the decades since JFK—and explain why Democrats must re-embrace Catholic constituents and aspects of Catholic thought if they want to re-emerge as the majority party. Basic plans to publish in spring 2007.

Bios from Da Capo

Merloyd Lawrence has acquired a new book by Brenda Maddox titled Freud's Wizard: The Enigma of Ernest Jones for her eponymous imprint at Da Capo; Trident's Ellen Levine sold U.S. rights. Maddox, whose other biographies include Nora: The Real Life of Molly Bloom and Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA, will focus on the life of the Welsh psychoanalyst who helped build the international psychoanalytic movement and flew to Vienna in 1938 to rescue Freud from the Nazis. Da Capo will publish in spring 2007.

Ben Schafer has acquired a biography of folk singer Townes Van Zandt titled Rain on a Conga Drum: The Ballad of the Late, Great Townes Van Zandt by John Kruth from John Michel at the Howard Morhaim Literary Agency, who sold world rights. This authorized biography is based on exclusive interviews with everyone who knew Van Zandt, including his best friend, Guy Clark, and colleagues like Steve Earle and John Prine. A spring 2007 pub is planned.

Surviving a Stroke

New Wiley editor Christel Winkler has acquired Valerie Greene's Driven by Fire: Surviving a Massive Stroke from Maura E. Teitelbaum at Abrams Artists Agency, who sold world rights. The book will be a combination memoir and resource on stroke survival; Greene had a massive stroke at 31 that paralyzed one side of her body and left her unable to speak. Told by doctors she might never walk or talk again, she is now walking and communicating, and is a spokesperson for the American Heart Association and the American Stroke Association. A pub date of May 2008 is planned, to coincide with National Stroke Awareness month.