Nosy Crow has bought two books from a Bath Spa University MA graduate in a pre-empt providing “cross company excitement and a clear publishing vision” within 48 hours of submission.
Kirsty Applebaum’s first novel, The Middler, won the 2016 United Agents Prize for Most Promising Writing for Young People, and will be published next year “accompanied by an ambitious marketing and PR campaign”.
The children’s indie publisher’s head of fiction, Kirsty Stansfield, bought world rights from Nancy Miles at the Miles Stott Agency.
The Middler is a “gripping story” aimed at nine to 12-year-olds featuring forbidden friendship, loyalty and betrayal set in a near-future world.
Stansfield described the quality of writing by Winchester-based Applebaum as “superb”. She said: “I was immediately drawn into Maggie’s world and wanted to know all about her, and the quiet menace underpinning everything.”
Kate Wilson, m.d at Nosy Crow said: “It had me at the first page – such a great voice. It’s unusual to find such perfectly-pitched middle-grade fiction, and I think it has real international potential.”
via Nosy Crow snaps up Bath Spa graduate’s debut | The Bookseller.