Foreign rights guide London Book Fair 2024 New Fiction
Roxane van Iperen, I Promise *Rights: William Morris Agency; film option * novel * 380 pages * 2023 * 55,000 copies sold * nominated for the Libris Literature Prize 2024 As long as I move, I’m safe Twelve-year-old M. grows up in two worlds. At home there is chaos and violence, at school she adapts silently. Her parents are constantly on the run - from the outside world, each other, their own demons dragging M. along, from village to village, from school to school. She seeks refuge in nature and with other outsiders - the residents of a holiday park, travelers in a trailer park, a group of artists in the forest. But nowhere does she get the chance to take root, or, more importantly, to build a shared past with anyone. To everyone, she is just a passer-by. And if no one witnesses your life, do you even exist? I Promise is the story of a girl who has to fight everything in her young life to stay afloat. And ultimately faces an impossible choice.
Non-fiction Erik Brouwer, The Fighter of Auschwitz *Rights sold: Cassell (World English) * WWII * 285 pages * 2023* Full English translation available A testament to the endurance of humanity in the face of extraordinary evil In 1943, the Dutch champion boxer, Leen Sanders, was sent to Auschwitz. His wife and children were put to death while he was sent ‘to the left’ with the others who were fit enough for labour. Recognized by an SS officer, he was earmarked for a ‘privileged’ post in the kitchens in exchange for weekly boxing matches for the entertainment of the Nazi guards. From there, he devoted himself to resisting their limitless cruelty. With great risk and danger to his own life, Leen spent years stealing, concealing and smuggling food and clothing from SS nursing units to alleviate the unbearable suffering of the prisoners in need. He also regularly supplied extra food to the Dutch women who were victims of Dr Mengele’s experiment in Block 10. To his fellow Jews in the camp, he served as a rescuer, leader and role model, defending them even on their bitter death march to Dachau towards the end of the war.
Irwan Droog, Wally and Us *Eco/travel *189 pages * January 2024 A journey in the wake of a world famous walrus In March 2021, the people of Ireland's Valentia Island were surprised by a unique visitor: a young, tired walrus, who proceeded to travel along the coast of Western Europe in the months that followed, regularly hoisting himself aboard small boats along the way. Why was this walrus so far from home? Had he fallen asleep on an ice floe and drifted away, or was the melting sea ice in the Arctic forcing him south? It seems we will increasingly be sharing our habitat with species we used to be able to admire only in zoos. How do we deal with this? Irwan Droog followed in Wally's footsteps, searching for answers. Wally and Us tells the story of a walrus who left an indelible impression, against the backdrop of human-animal relations in a rapidly changing world.