Atomised!

So, I can at last share with you my second bit of good news...which is most welcome following the sad news earlier in the year about the end of the children's fiction list at Frances Lincoln.

I have agreed a two-book deal with Atom!

The first book is Salvage, about Aidan and his sister Cass who haven't seen eachother for years because Cass was adopted by another family. They are reunited as teenagers, but it is a bittersweet reunion. 

The second is still in development (that means ideas are buzzing around in my brain like a demented wasp).

I've been planning and thinking about Salvage for ages, because I'd thought it would be my next book for Frances Lincoln, so it's brilliant to be able to get on and write it. Atom's Editorial Director Samantha Smith really gets what I try and do, so I think it's a great home for my contemporary YA books. Atom published Twlight in the UK, and if you read Almost True or Lia's Guide you'll know that I'm ever so slightly obsessed.. And they also recently published Adorkable by Sarra Manning, one of my favourite books of 2012 so far.

While I've been waiting to find out what would happen with Salvage, I've been working on two other books...still no idea what will happen with them. It's been an interesting year so far, to put it mildly.

Here's the deal as reported in Book Brunch (an industry website)

 

     Atom buys 'home-grown YA' from Keren David

Atom Editorial Director Samantha Smith has acquired two new "home-grown contemporary YA" novels by multi-award-winning author Keren David, buying UK and Commonwealth rights from Jenny Savill of Andrew Nurnberg Associates International Ltd.

The first of the two stand-alone novels, Salvage tells the story of two siblings from a neglectful home, who were separated as young children when one was adopted by a middle-class family. Now aged 16 and 18 they are reunited through Facebook, with none of the preparation and support that social workers advise.

"Keren David treads that immensely difficult line between being compulsively readable but not shying away from many of the real, and heart-breaking, issues that teens face," says Smith. "We’re thrilled to be bringing such a strong, British author onto the list and have big plans for Keren in the future."

A former journalist, David made the transition to writing teen fiction with the publication of When I Was Joe in 2010. Her latest novel, Lia’s Guide to Winning the Lottery, was published in summer 2011 and is currently being made into a musical.

"I am thrilled to be working with Atom," says David. "I think there's a growing audience in the UK for home-grown contemporary YA, and it's great to get a vote of confidence from a leading publisher."

Atom - the Little, Brown Book Group’s children’s and young adult imprint - will publish Salvage in early 2014.