It’s been another spectacular week here at MM Agency, from a Waterstones exclusive cover reveal, to our authors continuing to dominate the bestsellers lists and a major award shortlisting.

 

Let’s kick things off with this amazing cover for Lex Croucher’s upcoming YA fiction debut Reputation, which is set to be published this July by Zaffre/Bonnier Books. Waterstones revealed her cover exclusively this week and in line with official publication, will also be selling some limited signed editions, which you can pre-order here!

Lex’s new regency rom-com follows Georgiana Ellers, a young middle-class girl, abandoned by her parents and forced into the care of her dreary aunt and uncle. At a particularly dull party, she falls in with the enigmatic Frances Campbell, a wealthy member of the in-crowd and her unfathomably rich, deeply improper friends. Georgiana is introduced to a new world: drunken debauchery, mysterious young men with strangely arresting hands and the upper echelons of Regency society. But the price of entry to high society might just be higher than Georgiana is willing to pay…

 

We’d also like to shout about this absolutely gorgeous cover for Elizabeth Macneal’s Circus of Wonders, which published yesterday with Picador/PanMacmillan. Elizabeth celebrated the launch of her dazzling new book last night with AtHomeWith4Indies. Her first novel The Doll Factory was an instant success, hitting the No. 1 spot in the Times and becoming the No. 2 bestseller in The Sunday Times and we know that Elizabeth’s fans can’t wait to grab a copy of her latest book. Congratulations Elizabeth on the publication of your second novel!

 

 

C.L Taylor is known for her gripping psychological thrillers that are always sure to keep you on the edge of your seat. Readers are always enthralled with her complex characters and unexpected twists in her stories, so it comes as no surprise that her latest book, Her Last Holiday (Avon/HarperCollins), recently shot up to No.8 on The Sunday Times Bestseller List this week, with the e-book also reaching No.2 on the Kindle Bestseller list.

 

 

Also gaining significant attention on the Kindle charts is Tracy Bloom‘s latest novel, The Wife Who Got a Life (HarperCollins), which has climbed up to No.29 over the weekend. Tracy’s hilarious new novel, follows Cathy Collins – a mum on a mission – to change her life. When her husband drops a midlife-crisis bombshell, Cathy decides that it’s time to take control. No more laundry, teenage tantrums or housework. After years of putting herself last, she’s going to be first for a change.

 

 

Emma Stonex’s The Sunday Times bestselling, The Lamplighters, has been consistently going from strength to strength with appearances on The Times bestseller list, the Audible bestseller chart and most recently back on The Sunday Times HB Fiction Chart. And this week we’ve been absolutely delighted to see The Lamplighters continuing to draw in new readers this week, as it takes back the No. 19 spot on the Sunday Times bestseller list!

 

 

Caroline Mitchell’s Amy Winter series has also been gaining significant buzz lately, with all 4 books appearing on the Amazon top 100. The first book in the series, Truth and Lies , took the No. 4 spot on the Amazon charts last week and it continues to make quite a splash amongst readers, having been featured as one of The Top 20 Most Sold Books on the Amazon chart this week.

 

Robin Morgan-Bentley’s 2020 debut The Wreckage, published by Trapeze/Penguin Random House has been  nominated for The Specsavers Debut Crime Novel Award at CRIMEFEST! In the run-up to the announcement for the winner in June, Robin participated in a panel with the other nominees, which you can check out here.

Congratulations Robin on your nomination!

 

Daisy Jones, author of All The Things She Said: Everything I Know About Modern Lesbian and Bi Culture (Cornonet/Hachette), was recently featured in an article for the Gay Times, where she broke down her top 10 ground-breaking LGBTQ+ pop culture moments.  Zoya Rasa-Sheikh describes Daisy’s upcoming book as “an introspective dive into the fast-moving world of queer culture, Daisy unpacks some of the 21st century’s biggest lesbian and bisexual moments to paint a portrait of what modern-day queerness looks like”. Be sure to read the full article here.

 

Huge congratulations to Jules Lampshire on her two-book deal with Orion Dash for her new novel, The Therapy Game. Jules is a former therapist and winner of the Blue Pencil First Novel Award 2018, and will be writing under the pen-name, Julia Stone. She will also be making a guest appearance at the Faber Academy tomorrow, where she’ll be presenting a talk titled ‘Your Wellbeing as a Writer,’ pulling from her background as a therapist.

 

Clare Pooley’s New York Times bestselling novel, The Authenticity Project was a major hit last year, having been selected as a top pick for 2020 by Good Morning America and Woman & Home. Focusing on six strangers who share a small green notebook in order to confess their loneliness and encourage others to share their own, Clare’s novel really emphasises the power of human connection,  so we were recently delighted to see a real life Authenticity Project being featured in The Washington Post.

“Kyra Peralte thought keeping a diary during the pandemic might help her sort out her tangled feelings. Then she decided to drop her journal in the mail and share it with a stranger. She invited other women from near and far to fill the remaining lined pages of her black-and-white marbled composition notebook with their own pandemic tales. A year later, seven marbled notebooks have circulated in various locations — from the United States to Australia, Canada to South Africa — and a growing group of strangers have formed an unexpected friendship as a result. So far, 115 women have signed up to participate.”

 

 

Abbie Greaves‘ latest novel, The Ends of the Earth (Century/Penguin Random House) was recently reviewed by the Sun, having also been made pick of the week. The reviewer was duly impressed, describing the book as “Poignant and moving, this is 2021’s standout love story so far – and one that shines a light on some very important issues. Exceptional.”

 

Our debut authors have also been creating a significant buzz lately, with three of our authors appearing on the Publishers Lunch List of Notable debuts, including Katherine Faulkner’s Greenwich Park  (Raven Books/Bloomsbury), as well as Nita Prose‘s upcoming novel The Maid  and Ethan Joella‘s A Little Hope  (Scribner Books/Simon and Schuster).

 

And speaking of debuts, Ashley Audrain’s The New York Times bestselling The Push (Michael Jospeh/Penguin Random House) has been making huge waves since publication early this year. From being chosen as Good Morning America’s January Book Club pick, to appearing on the Toronto Star’s bestseller list and Globe and Mail bestseller lists for 17 weeks straight, The Push has recently been featured on Indigo.com as a standout-out novel for their Best Books of 2021 So Far, appearing at No.2!

 

To round off, our IRD team have made some amazing deals this week:

Brazillian rights for Sea of Memories, Beekeeper’s Promise, The Dressmaker’s Gift, and The Skylark’s Secret by Fiona Valpy have all sold to Ciranda Cultural