Author of MILLICENT GLENN’S LAST WISH Tori Whitaker’s THE WOMEN OF BOND HOUSE, a dual timeline story of two women related by blood—one in Prohibition-era Detroit and the other in modern-day Kentucky—and three things that bond them together: a bourbon distillery, a red 1923 sports car, and the first’s diary that changes the other’s life forever, to Chris Werner at Lake Union Publishing, in an exclusive submission, by Katie Shea Boutillier.
Publishers Weekly: Hutchinson skillfully balances high-stakes action and mind-bending plot twists with humor and profundity. The result is a wildly ambitious, wackily imaginative tale that will leave readers craving a sequel.
Booklist: Settle in for a thrilling, funny, and moving ride…. The vulnerable, empathetic characters are full of personality and ground the high-concept premise with relatable issues.
Kirkus: A riveting ride through the stars.
Library Journal: This touching story of the love and forgiveness between mothers and daughters will win fans.
Three generations of women—and the love, loss, sacrifice, and secrets that can bind them forever or tear them apart.
Millicent Glenn is self-sufficient and contentedly alone in the Cincinnati suburbs. As she nears her ninety-first birthday, her daughter Jane, with whom she’s weathered a shaky relationship, suddenly moves back home. Then Millie’s granddaughter shares the thrilling surprise that she’s pregnant. But for Millie, the news stirs heartbreaking memories of a past she’s kept hidden for too long. Maybe it’s time she shared something, too. Millie’s last wish? For Jane to forgive her.
Sixty years ago Millie was living a dream. She had a husband she adored, a job of her own, a precious baby girl, and another child on the way. They were the perfect family. All it took was one irreversible moment to shatter everything, reshaping Millie’s life and the lives of generations to come.
As Millie’s old wounds are exposed, so are the secrets she’s kept for so long. Finally revealing them to her daughter might be the greatest risk a mother could take in the name of love.
David Linker at HarperCollins has acquired, in an exclusive submission, Before We Disappear by Shaun David Hutchinson (We Are the Ants), a historical fantasy set during the 1909 Alaska–Yukon–Pacific Exposition in Seattle. Jack, an orphan and magician’s assistant, spies on their rivals to steal secrets of their magic tricks to find that the other magician’s assistant, Wil, can perform real magic. This truth will result in death, so Jack and Wil face the ultimate choice to trust one another or vanish from it all. Publication is set for fall 2021; Katie Shea Boutillier did the deal for world English rights.
School Library Journal: In the alternating viewpoints of cool Dre and uptight Dean, Hutchinson takes us into a relationship with more complications than most. Both teenage boys are the only children of vying Presidential candidates and, fittingly, they first meet in an election event green room. Dre, the son of the liberal Latino candidate, is comfortably out to his family and his friends, while Dean’s conservative mother, the opposite candidate, is not gay-friendly and Dean himself, who is white, is only beginning to admit to himself that he’s somewhere on the LGBTQ spectrum. The blossoming friendship between the boys occurs in crossing paths on the campaign trails, in private app chats, and phone calls. Hutchinson imbues all the minor as well as main characters with credible personalities and provides a thoughtful depiction of how different kinds of interpersonal relationships within and beyond families shape individuals and friendships.
VERDICT This is more than just an election year story and will have staying power in high school and public library teen fiction collections.
Israeli rights to Annika Martin’s Dangerous Royals Series, to Sifrut Shenogaat, in a three-book deal, by Beverley Levit at The Israeli Association Of Book Publishers Ltd., on behalf of Katie Shea Boutillier for Cameron McClure.
Slovak rights to Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka’s ALWAYS NEVER YOURS and TIME OF OUR LIVES, to Albatros Media, by Milena Kaplarevic at Prava i Prevodi on behalf of Katie Shea Boutillier.
Olivia Valcarce at Scholastic Press has bought, in a preempt, Harper Glenn’s untitled speculative debut, inspired by Glenn’s childhood and the current worlds social climate, set in a near-future Georgia split by revolt into rich and poor. Josephine, an orphan from Ashes, has one chance to escape her life of poverty: the annual Gala, where she connects with Cove, an orphan who lives in wealth. But as a new revolt pins one side against the other, Jo must face painful decisions regarding the future of the only home she knows, the truth of her traumatic past, and the boy who stole her heart. Publication is set for 2022; Katie Shea Boutillier did the deal for world rights.