The NY Times reports that Yann Martel has sold his third, as-yet-untitled-novel, to Random House imprint Spiegel & Grau for what unnamed sources say was nearly a $3 million deal. The author was represented by Jackie Kaiser from Westwood Creative Artists.

The novel will be "an allegory—this time about the Holocaust—involving animals," the follow-up to Martel's surprise bestseller and Booker Prize-winning, 'Life of Pi.' The article explores Martel's career, including frank comments from the author about Holocaust writing and his agent about the shifting publishing landscape. GalleyCat has reported on Martel's one-man book club and possible adaptations of "Pi."

Here's more from the article: "Mr. Martel also declined to discuss his advance, but said, 'Frankly, with all the years it took to write this book, if you amortize it out, it's not as much as one would like it to be.'"