Scribner Lands Atwell Debut

Denise Shannon, of Denise Shannon Literary Agency, has sold U.S. rights to Mary Stewart Atwell’s debut novel, Wild Girls, to Alexis Gargagliano at Scribner. The book has also been purchased by Francesca Cristoffanini at Rizzoli in Italy, and by Kristin Cochrane and Lynn Henry at Doubleday in Canada. Wild Girls is an atmospheric boarding school novel with a supernatural take set in a small town in Appalachia. Atwell received her M.A. in literature at the University of Virginia and an M.F.A. in fiction from Washington University in St. Louis.

This Is His Brain on Drugs

Neuroscientist Marc Lewis examines his own hardware in Memoirs of an Addicted Brain, which Lisa Kaufman at PublicAffairs acquired. Michael Levine, of Westwood Creative Artists, sold world English rights (excluding Canada, Australia, and New Zealand), and the book is scheduled for March 2012. In the book, Lewis examines his own battle with drugs and, as a man who’s dedicated his life to the study of the brain, explores the science behind the reaction he had to narcotics. As the publisher put it, Lewis “articulates exactly how drugs speak to the brain and illuminates the neurochemistry of craving.”

Ransom Riggs Sells Two

Connie Hsu at Little, Brown Books for Young Readers has acquired Arcanum, a new young adult novel, plus an untitled book, by Ransom Riggs, the New York Times bestselling author of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. World English and audio rights were sold by Kate Schafer Testerman at KT Literary. Arcanum begins in the attic of an old, forgotten rural museum, where secret objects from the distant past lie in dust and in wait, according to LBYR. When a group of teens discover this cache of sinister curiosities, they unsuspectingly unleash hell in their sleepy town. Magic, mystery, and evil intertwine in this dark, creepy, and frightening story, which is set for a spring 2014 publication.

Inspector Salgado’s First Thriller Goes to Crown

The U.S. rights to Spanish crime writer Antonio Hill’s debut crime thriller, The Summer of Dead Toys, were sold to Molly Stern at Crown, with Zack Wagman editing. The thriller introduces Insp. Hector Salgado, a Barcelona detective with a complicated past, a tendency toward violence, and a penchant for cinema. Set for a spring 2013 release in a two-book deal, the book was acquired from Transworld in the U.K. Rights have been sold in 10 other European territories to date.

Briefs

Trish O’Hare at GemmaMedia bought North American rights to an autobiographical novel called Smarty Girl, Dublin Savage by Honor Molloy. Simon & Schuster Audio has secured world English for a simultaneous publication in March 2012. A former acquisitions editor for S&S Audio, the author negotiated both deals. Set in Ireland in the 1960s, Molloy’s debut tracks the rise and fall of the O’Feeney family as seen through the eyes of Noleen, a scrappy little girl and a real Dublin character.... In an unagented deal, Anne E. Johnson has sold world English rights to Green Light Delivery, a noir-influenced science fiction novel, to Candlemark & Gleam, to be published in June 2012.