Wine Dark Seas
Aegean Fables, France Between the Sheets, and Sweden Says ‘Pippi, Move Over’
A veritable odyssey of titles appears this month on the bestseller list from Greece, at the top of which is The Three Widows by Dora Yiannakopoulou, which traces the lives and friendships of three women who become friends after the death of their husbands, a bond which is sorely tested by the awkward realization that all three have fallen in love with the same man. The women are trapped in a web of guilt over crimes committed and secrets kept, and can only release themselves from one another with the price of a life. The Three Widows is Yiannakopoulou’s fourth novel, the three previous works being Trying on the Wedding Dress, The Great Stage, and With the ‘Yes’ of Love. All were bestsellers, and all have been made into Greek feature films. Kastaniotis controls foreign sales; contact Maria Fakinou (tel. 30-1-33-01-208, fax 30-1-38-22-530).
Also on the Greek list is The Pencil Factory by Soti Triantafillou, a weighty historical novel that opens in Cairo in the 1860s and concludes in Athens on the eve of World War II. It traces the friendship between Stefanos Assimakis, a genius engineer on the Suez Canal project, and Nicos Vangelis, a heavy-smoking, hard-living political revolutionary. In the expansive tradition of the European novel of ideas, this work wanders from exchanges of social thought on the Left Bank in Paris to revolution in Cairo, along the way taking in sexual intrigue in the Congo and political freedom in Zurich. Originally published in February 2000, The Pencil Factory has sold over 40,000 copies, with rights sold thus far only in Germany. The author’s new novel, Poor Margo, was written in English, and its Greek translation will be published in October. Triantafyllou has also published three collections of short stories, four bestselling novels, and a children’s book. See Nikos Trantis at Patakis for rights (fax 30-1-362-8950).
Political intrigue continues in Greece with Nikos Themelis, a writer whose day job is Counselor for Foreign Affairs to the Prime Minister. Initially, publishers were wary of touching so politically connected an author, but he’s struck it rich with his first novel The Subversion, which sold a total of 42,000 copies in 21 reprints. His current book, The Search, is set in 19th-century Greece, and tells the story of protagonist Nikolas in six different voices. Originally published in 1998, it’s turning into a secure long-term bestseller with sales now up to 52,000 copies and a 26th printing. Rights have been sold in Germany, Italy, and Turkey, and are handled by Maria Zampara at Kedros (fax 30-1-33-02-655).
Lastly in Greece, I, Martha Freud at #9 is the first-person narrative of Freud’s wife, Martha, and an imaginative dip into the psyche of a woman about whom little is known. As the publicists ask: Who was Martha Freud? What did it mean to be married to the man whose work refuted everything we had taken for granted about our psychological existence? In this novel Mrs. F lives a dual life: the public veneer of a devoted wife and mother of six, and a private life chock full of forbidden thoughts, dark desires, and shameless actions. Author Fotini Tsalikoglou was born in Athens and is professor of psychology at the Panteion University of Athens. Rights are handled by Maria Fakinou at Kastaniotis (see above).
While we’re on the subject of dark desires, France has been heating up between the sheets with the sensational release of The Sex Life of Catherine M. Author Catherine Millet is editor of ArtPress, a contemporary art magazine in France, and is a well-known personality on the nation’s art scene. What the publisher is calling “our hip book of the moment” is said to be a frank voyage through the author’s own sexual history, told with “bewildering bluntness and clarity” — and comes straight out of the great French erotic tradition of Colette and Nin. Immediately hailed as a classic by culture vulture Bernard Pivot of TV’s closely watched weekly French arts round-up Bouillon de Culture, the book sold through its initial print run of 10,000 by the end of the first day on the shelves in early April, and Seuil is now frantically printing some 10,000 copies per day. The total print run is up to 90,000, and translation deals have been made in Italy (Mondadori), Spain (Anagrama), and Portugal (Asa). German, Catalan, and English language rights are under discussion; see Jennie Dorny at Seuil.
Meanwhile in France, it seems Harry Potter now has a Francophone little sister. Plon’s new bestseller, also published in early April, is the first in a series of young adult fantasy books called Peggy-Sue and the Ghosts, boasting a sassy, crime-solving teenage heroine in magic glasses. Things have been going badly ever since the appearance of a blue sun in the skies over the city. The dogs are playing chess, and the cats have become mind readers. And as for the shoes, they’re prowling through the streets with the firm intention to kick the behinds of their former wearers. Set in a world whose boundaries only exist at the limits of the imagination, the first volume in the series, The Day of the Blue Dog, sets Peggy-Sue off to save the world from the invisible beings coming through the walls to play often deadly pranks on unsuspecting mortals. The author, Serge Brussolo, is a prolific sci-fi, fantasy, and thriller novelist considered by many critics to be France’s Stephen King. The first print run of 60,000 copies sold out on the day of the publication, and there are now 90,000 copies in circulation. Rights are sold so far in Korea, Greece, Hungary, and Portugal. US rights are handled by Kathryn Nanovic-Morlet at the French Publishers Agency.
A last quick mention for Ned’s Head by Soren Olsson and Anders Jacobsson, which is finally to be published stateside by S&S. It is being translated and “culturally adapted” for the American reader by the authors and translator Kevin Read. Originally published as Bert’s Diary in 1987 and a bestseller in Sweden, the book has now been translated into more than fourteen languages and has combined sales topping five million. Ned has now become a household name, outselling every book in every literary category in Sweden since 1990, including the Pippi Longstocking series, previously Sweden’s foremost literary export. There are now 14 books in the Ned series, all of which have debuted as Swedish bestsellers. Ned has also been adapted for TV in a 12-episode series, and the franchise continues as feature-length motion pictures in Sweden, Germany, Holland, and Finland.
