Hello friends,
On Tuesday, I finished the first full draft of the third MQ novel, The Traitor and the Tunnel. (*weak cheer*) Consequently, my brain most resembles a smallish bowl of cooling tapioca. Today I’ll confine myself to announcing that yesterday was the official pub date for the French edition of A Spy in the House. Here’s the cover:
As you can see, they’ve changed the title to The Jade Pendant. I like that the series is still called The Agency, and not L’agence. What do you think?
It’s now 3 months before the release of the second Agency novel, The Body at the Tower, and that means I’m finally allowed to show you the cover! Without further ado:
This cover, like the first, was designed by Caroline Lawrence at Candlewick. When she commissioned a photo shoot for Spy’s cover, she photographed a second outfit for this novel, too. Caroline read both novels carefully and based both cover scenes – and the model’s outfits – on scenes from the books.
There’s been some discussion in the YA blogosphere about the way MQ looks – whether or not the model is an accurate choice. Without getting too spoiler-ish, I want to confirm that the model, Amber Ahlquist, definitely could be Mary Quinn. (Those of you who’ve read Spy know what I mean, right? If you want more info, email me!) Candlewick’s attention to detail here is amazing: they got MQ right and their stylist is an expert in Victorian costume. They went all out, friends, and I love them for it.
Here are some shots from the second half of the cover shoot. I’ve been sitting on these for MONTHS (8, to be precise) and am so excited finally to share them with you!
As before, the talent in New York consisted of:
Crystal Thompson, wardrobe stylist (and I’ll say it again: she works on 30 Rock and Gossip Girl!)
Souraya Hamdi, makeup artist (also of 30 Rock)
Scott Nobles, photographer
David Gardiner, photographer’s assistant
I still find it strange that all these people I’ve never met have worked so hard on my books. It’s a humbling and glorious feeling, and I’m so grateful to them all.
This week in reviews:
Librarian Jennifer Hendzlik had low expectations but concludes, “Mary is a strong female lead that could stand head to head with any of Tamora Pierce’s fierce woman characters and the twists, turns and yes, even a love interest will keep readers engaged on many levels. I was expecting ok and I got wow instead.”
Reviewing for the Guelph Mercury, YA novelist Jean Mills says, “readers will love the intrigue and hints of romance in this mystery set in nineteenth-century London, where privileged young ladies wore lace and poured tea, while their less-fortunate counterparts struggled to survive. Marriage proposals, pickpockets, tea parties and pirates — A Spy in the House delivers a rollicking read.”
First, a confession: I have never belonged to a book club. This might be because I spent quite a long time at university and so had many years of focused and sustained discussion about a book/poem we’d all recently read (or pretended to read). Most classes were adequate-to-fine. A few were dismal. A very few were spectacular. So while I do love talking about books, there’s something about the formality of a Book Club that gives me classroom flashbacks.
As a result, I’d no idea what to expect at my first book club meeting as an author. What can I tell you?
First, that it may be all about the food. Seriously: 8 women. Snacks for, ooh, 16? It was heaven.
Second, that they had all read Spy (or did a great job pretending) and had tons of questions. And they asked me things I’d never thought about – for example, what’s the backstory on the primary agent whose territory Mary Quinn treads on? My brilliant answer: “Um, I haven’t thought about her much.” I think I’d better get on that.
Third, I totally cracked: I’m not supposed to reveal the Candlewick cover for The Body at the Tower yet, because it’s not quite ready. (Soon, soon.) But I brought an ARC and flashed it around shamelessly. The bookclubbers were very kind and humoured my delirious babbling about the story behind the cover. Thanks, ladies.
I had such a great time, thanks to Jennifer O’Donnell who invited me, and Marcia Irving who hosted. It was terrific to meet all of you and I hope you keep in touch! (And thank you very much for the lovely bottle of wine! You really shouldn’t have, but I’m secretly very glad you did.)
This week in reviews:
Bookseller Ben McNally says Spy is “accomplished and believable. Mary Quinn and her supporting cast are developed with care and craft, and the plot is polished and quick.” Notes from a Book Addict, at BookLounge
The charmingly named NerdGirl is “on the edge of my seat waiting for the next book”!
And Ria at Tea and Tomes says the characters are “wonderfully real” and the period detail “made the story just that much more believable”.
There’s one week left to win swag in the “If I were a spy…” contest! Enter here.
This week, I can finally share some wonderful news from my UK publisher, Walker Books. In September, Walker will publish the second Agency novel, The Body at the Tower, with a redesigned cover:
from Walker Books, September 2010
But I just recently had confirmation that they’ll be reissuing A Spy in the House at the same time, with a matching redesigned cover. What do you think of it?
to be re-released in September 2010!
Me? I think it’s perfect.
In other news, YA historical novelist Marie-Louise Jensen highlights Spy at An Awfully Big Blog Adventure, calling it her “favourite unexpected read of last year” (it came out in the UK last April).
Flashlight Worthy and Steph Su combined forces to recommend Spy on their list of YA Novels Featuring Women from Another Era (it’s #2 on the list!).
And GAL Novelty spotlighted my recent blog tour with praise so effervescently shy-making that I can’t possibly repeat it myself. (But I’m not above linking to it, oh no…)
Thank you so much for your enthusiasm and support, friends and readers!
My Italian publisher, Mondadori, just sent me the cover for their edition of Spy, which will be published in March. Its title is La Detective. Note how artificially calm I sound, in these few sentences.
La Detective, published by Mondadori
Here’s the full dust jacket:
And now, the truth: I screamed like a girly-girl when I saw this. I can’t get over it. I love the use of period photographs, the wrought-iron ornamentation around the title, the flash of pink. If I were in the mood to cavil, I’d point out that Mary never, ever uses a gun – but what the hell. It’s not as though a handkerchief or a pen would be a good substitute.
God, it’s exquisite.
Sigh.
Occasionally, I worry that all I do in this blog is squee about the Agency’s cover art. If you share that concern, you will be sadly disappointed because this week, I’m at it again.
Candlewick Press has just sent me the cover for A Spy in the House, which will be published on March 9, 2010 as a hardcover. Remember the images from that photo shoot I posted a few weeks ago? Well, here’s the final product from the hands of the amazing Caroline Lawrence. And I love it.
I love it.
I love it.
I hope you do, too.
A Spy in the House - US cover
I’m taking a break from writing FAQs (they’ll be back next week) because I have 2 things to say today. The first is:
OMG! OMG! LOOK! AT! THIS!
Walker Books have completely redesigned the covers for The Agency. I can now share with you the new artwork for the second book in the trilogy, THE BODY AT THE TOWER, which will be published in the UK next year.
The Body at the Tower (Walker Books, September 2010)
I can’t decide what I like best: the period-perfect font? The way the Houses of Parliament are backlit to just the right degree of spooky/familiar? The “aged” effect around the edges? Maybe it’s just the sum total. In any case, I’m thrilled to bits (as if that wasn’t quite obvious.) And the designer, Patrick Insole (who did the cover for SPY, too), kept the old logo in the bottom right hand corner – YAY!
My second announcement today is that my friend Sarah is a genius. Specifically, she’s a paranoid-yet-deeply-rational genius who’s created a website that displays the contents of her brain in a terrifying yet witty manner. She is The Catastrophizer and I suggest you study with her forthwith.
That’s how the German series title translates into English. And here are the German covers from publisher Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag (DTV). Here’s the preliminary version I first saw a few months ago.
I thought that was it. Then, a couple of weeks ago, I got something completely new:
And I like this version so much more. What do you think?
I literally did cartwheels when Deb Wayshak, my editor at Candlewick (she’s a novelist, too – prolific and critically acclaimed and thus, y’know, not intimidating AT ALL) told me they’d commissioned a photo shoot for the US edition of SPY. While I love the elegant, glowing UK cover, I was so curious to see how other people imagined Mary Quinn. The final cover is not quite ready for the world but its designer, Caroline Lawrence, took some behind-the-scenes snapshots of the cover shoot so that we could all participate, too.
Have you recovered yet? I haven’t. Remember, you have just under 3 weeks left to enter to win a copy of SPY.
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