What an incredible week for chart positions! Here are the highlights…

The simply stunning cover for Fiona Valpy’s new novel, The Skylark’s Secret has been revealed and we could’t love it more. This beautiful book is published in September this year by Amazon / Lake Union.

Fiona’s most recently published novel, The Dressmaker’s Gift, is currently sitting at an outstanding No. 7 on the Top 20 Bookstat E-book chart for the year to date.

In more fabulous chart news, C.L. Taylor’s new psychological thriller, Strangers (HarperCollins / Avon), has hit No. 10 on the Sunday Times bestseller list – just two weeks after it was published.

C.L. Taylor gave an insightful interview for Her Magazine this week. She said: There’s always been a dark side to my writing.” Check out the full article here.

Bestselling author Shari Lapena has listed Strangers as one of “Nine of the Best One Sit Reads” this week for Dead Good Books. She said: “This is first-rate storytelling – a great read.”

And finally, C.L. Taylor did a fabulous panel on Book Bunker with fellow Agency author, Mark Edwards, this week. They chatted about all things books, as well as Strangers and Mark’s twisty novel about overbearing in-laws, Here to Stay (Thomas & Mercer / Amazon).

Gail Honeyman’s multi-million copy bestselling novel, Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine (HarperCollins/ HarperFiction), has hit No. 13 on the New York Times paperback fiction list this week. It has now appeared on the NYT bestseller list 81 times – an incredible feat.

Elizabeth Kay’s breathakingly brilliant Seven Lies was published in the UK yesterday by Little, Brown / Sphere. This fabulous debut was given a shoutout by bestselling author David Nicholls this week:

Elizabeth gave an interview on the BBC this week with Geoff Lloyd, where she did an amazing reading of the First Lie of the seven.

She also wrote an article for the Evening Standard about female friendship, where they called her the “New Face of Domestic Noir”, as well as giving an exclusive Q&A for The Crime Vault.

We are thrilled to announce that UK & Commonwealth rights to Jenni Jennings’ wonderful Middle-Grade novel, Malice in Underland, have sold to Scholastic.

Robin Morgan-Bentley’s twisty psychological thriller, The Wreckage, has been picked as Psychologies Magazine’s “Audiobook of the Month”.

The Scottish Book Trust is currently running a giveaway of Manjeet Mann’s beautiful YA verse novel, Run, Rebel (Penguin Random House Children’s). Get Tweeting!

Bestselling YA and Adult author Holly Bourne was a guest on The High Low podcast this week, hosted by Dolly Alderton and Pandora Sykes, to talk about her fabulous new novel, Pretending (Hodder & Stoughton).

Pretending was also featured on the Waterstones “This Week’s Essential Reading” newsletter, as well as hitting an incredible No. 1 in the Apple Audio store.

It’s been a big week of the BBC for newly published author Abbie Greaves. Her debut novel The Silent Treatment, has been chosen as Jo Whiley’s Radio 2 Book Club pick, as well as appearing on BBC Radio 4’s “You and Yours” show this week.

Abbie was also featured in a round up in The Independent of “Six of the Biggest Books Released this Month“. The Silent Treatment was published by Penguin Random House / Cornerstone earlier this month.

Clare Pooley, whose gorgeous uplit novel, The Authenticity Project was published on 2nd April by Penguin Random House / Transworld, was on  BBC Radio 2’s Steve Wright in the Afternoon show to chat about her novel.

Two Agency authors have been featured in a Daily Mail article about debuts this week. Clare Pooley’s The Authenticity Project was given high praise: “Pooley handles her cast with brio as new relationships are formed and lives are changed in this poignant and uplifting read.” And The Silent Treatment by Abbie Greaves was also featured: “It’s written with assurance and agonising insight, and the characters of Maggie and Frank will stay with me for a long time.”

Stephanie Wrobel’s Darling Rose Gold has hit No. 10 in the Canadian Globe and Mail bestseller list this week. The novel was published in Canada by Simon & Schuster Canada.

Chicago Tribune wrote a glowing review of Darling Rose Gold this week, too, saying: “Wrobel puts us inside the heads of these delusional women with dark delight, striking a neat balance between edgy humor and edge-of-your-seat tension”

ABC News posted a list of their favourite books to binge while social distancing, and American actress Whoopi Goldberg chose Darling Rose Gold! The novel was published in the UK by Penguin Random House / Michael Joseph as The Recovery of Rose Gold and in the US as Darling Rose Gold by Penguin Random House / Berkley.

Jane Healey’s The Animals at Lockwood Manor (Macmillan / Mantle) and Stephanie Wrobel’s Darling Rose Gold have been featured in an article in Popsugar this week.

Buzzfeed have featured Fiona Barton’s brilliant thriller, The Widow (Penguin Random House / Transworld), in their round up of “17 Mystery Books You Won’t Be Able To Put Down” this week.

Kereen Getten’s When Life Gives You Mangos (Pushkin Press) has been featured by Publisher’s Weekly in their Spring 2020 Middle Grade Spotlight.

Booklist gave a starred review for Katherine Slee’s For Emily (Orion) this week: “Slee’s bewitching debut not only offers a thoughtful meditation on life, love, and loss; it is also a lovely tribute to all things British, a beautiful paean to the importance of books in our lives, and a powerful celebration of the imagination and the creative process. With its superb depth of characterization and an ingenious plot shaped by a bird leitmotif, this magical and dazzling novel is the literary equivalent of serotonin.” 

We are thrilled to announce that bestselling author, Jack Jordan, has signed with the Agency with his new thriller.

And on the international rights front…

The Other People by C.J. Tudor has gone to Plaza y Janes in Spain.

Czech rights to Abbie Greaves’ The Silent Treatment have gone to Metafora.

Italian rights to King Of The Swamp by Catherine Emmett have gone to Adriano Salani Editore.

Serbian rights to Fiona Valpy’s Sea of Memories have sold to Vulkan.

And finally, a reminder to apply for the six-month long Madeleine Milburn Mentorship scheme! Applications are open until the 1st June – find more details here.