Macmillan Children's Books has announce the acquisition of three new books by Frances Hardinge, whose debut novel, FLY BY NIGHT, is already due for publication on the Macmillan list in October 2005. The new deal, for world rights, was brokered by Nancy Miles of the Miles Stott agency.
FLY BY NIGHT - described as a funny and fantastical adventure story set in a fictionalized eighteenth-century England - is said to have been making waves long before publication as word has spread of Hardinge's unique voice. It was, apparently, one of the most talked-about novels of the Bologna Book Fair and Macmillan has sold US rights in the book to Michael Stearns at HarperCollins USA in a six-gure=plus deal for four books.
Rights have already been sold to publishers in four other countries with several more auctions to be concluded shortly.
Hardinge's follow-up novels to FLY BY NIGHT will publish in the UK in 2007, 2008 and 2009.
Emma Hopkin, Managing Director of Macmillan Children's Books, says, 'We are delighted to have acquired a further three titles from Frances. Her writing is so original and beautifully crafted, and FLY BY NIGHT has been loved by all who have read it. It is immensely exciting and satisfying to have concluded a US deal with Michael Stearns at HarperCollins that reflects the same enthusiasm and confidence in Frances's future.
Frances Hardinge herself says, 'I am amazed and delighted by the response to FLY BY NIGHT, and I couldn't be more thrilled that Macmillan wants to publish my next three novels. This is something I've dreamed about since I was four years old and I can hardly believe that it's actually happening. It feels especially surreal as, in the midst of all the excitement, I am on the other side of the world travelling through the Antipodes.'
