The Big Book of Frankfurt?

Though the Book Fair doesn’t get started till tomorrow – and there shall be lots of coverage here at GalleyCat, whether from news stories or outsourced roving correspondents – already the hype is increasing at an exponential rate for Jonathan Littell‘s LES BIENVILLANTES (THE FURIES) which, if the Observer is to be believed, is what everyone at Frankfurt is already talking about.

‘Everyone is desperate to get their hands on it. The sums being spoken about are astronomical,’ said one literary agent. Seasoned observers are talking about ‘very significant six-figure sums’ for the English-language rights to the book. ‘There’s a bidding war, so the sky’s the limit,’ said an analyst. ‘Think of a figure and add lots of noughts.’ Not bad for a 900 page epic about WWII, battles of the Third Reich and other weighty issues – but then again, it’s already sold 100,000 copies in France and hasn’t been kicked off the bestseller lists there in weeks.

German rights are already sold, and no doubt many more will be sewn up by Frankfurt’s end. Which, of course, would make the author the second Littell to be published in North America, after his spy thriller father Robert (who only writes in English, unlike his multilingual son.)

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