24.03.10 | Graeme Neill in The Bookseller
David Fickling Books has bought a new title by the author of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas on the eve of the Bologna Book Fair. David Fickling bought world English language rights in the book by John Boyne from Simon Trewin at United Agents for an undisclosed sum.
The book, Noah Barleywater Runs Away, will be published on 29th September and will be illustrated by award winning artist Oliver Jeffers. The book is about a boy who runs away to a forest where he discovers a small puppet shop run by a man with stories to tell.
Fickling said: "Noah Barleywater Runs Away is a wonderful adventure, part humorous part moving and a thoroughly traditional story from end to end, warm and inventive and satisfyingly written. At the heart of the story is an idea that looks at something familiar in an entirely original way.
Boyne's readers will remember that he has the wonderful ability to do just that. Oliver Jeffers' illustrations are the icing on the cake."
Trewin said: "John has excelled himself with this wonderful new book and Noah Barleywater will swiftly cement himself as a firm favourite in the canon of children's characters worldwide."
Boyne added: "I'm excited to publish my second children's book...this autumn and to be re-teaming with David Fickling and Random House Children's Books on the novel. It's a very different book to The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas – more fairytale than fable – with a mystery at the centre and a surprise at the end. I am a huge fan of Oliver's work, and when we decided to illustrate the book, he was the person I wanted to do it. I don't think I've ever enjoyed the act of writing a book more than this one."
Boyne has been in Bologna (pictured here with his Swiss publisher, and UA's Jane Willis) with 16 deals done since last Thursday and more than 25 expected by the end of the fair
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