A Little Friendly Competition

I seem to be hearing more about London literary agents than is altogether healthy. First, there was my recent visit to the Orion Publishing Party, during which Peter Roche, managing director of the Orion Publishing Group, remarked on the proliferation of such representatives in this city. Now, I read with amusement in Mark Sanderson’s “Literary Life” column in The Telegraph that London’s most successful literary agent, Ed Victor, is as impressed as I have been by author Tom Rob Smith’s new thriller, Child 44. From Sanderson’s piece:

This week Simon & Schuster publishes the much-hyped Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith, a thriller set in Stalinist Russia. Perhaps, for once, the hype is justified.

A mole has informed me that Ed Victor, the doyen of literary agents, found Child 44 ‘a remarkable first novel’ and that ‘for the first and last time he was jealous of Jonny Geller taking on a new client’. Congratulations to Mr. Victor for his generosity of spirit and congratulations to Mr. Geller for signing what will no doubt prove to be another nice little earner.

You can read the whole Telegraph piece here.

Incidentally, Geller is one of the British capital’s foremost agents, representing Rap Sheet favorite Michael Marshall (The Intruders). Victor has among his clients one of January Magazine’s featured writers, Robert Littell (Vicious Circle).

Child 44 is out next week in the UK, and will reach America in April. But already, having read the coverage here, you should be prepared for those inevitable water-cooler conversations.