Nathan Filer by Phil Bambridge
Extract from The Bookseller – 2nd April 2012
HarperCollins has won a “huge and hotly contested” 11-way auction for a début novel described by the publisher as “Mark Haddon for grown-ups”, with more big deals predicted in the weeks ahead of the London International Book Fair (16th–18th April). HarperFiction editorial director Louisa Joyner bought UK and Commonwealth rights in Where the Moon Isn’t by Nathan Filer for a “substantial six-figure” sum, through Sophie Lambert at Tibor Jones Associates. The auction concluded within seven days with 10 publishers offering best bids. Dutch, Israeli and Italian rights have now been sold.
St Martin’s Press will publish in the US, with acquiring editor Nichole Argyres calling the book a “unique gem” and confirming that a $150,000 (£96,600) price-tag at auction was “in the right ballpark”.
The book is described as “an extraordinary portrait of one man’s journey through the spinning vortex that is mental illness”, narrated by the sufferer. HC will publish in the UK in spring 2013.