Headline signs Twilight fanfiction from UK school teacher

Headline has signed a deal for a trilogy by a British school teacher, which originally started as Twilight fanfiction.

Kate Byrne at Headline bought Sophie Jackson’s Pound of Flesh from Lorella Belli at the Lorella Belli Literary Agency.

Belli has also sold the Pound of Flesh at auction to Simon & Schuster in the US and J’Ai Lu in France, and it was pre-empted by RCS Libri in Italy and attracted five-figure deals in Germany and Spain. Audible has bought audio rights.

Pound of Flesh was originally published on fanfiction website fanfiction.net, and has been read 4m times and reviewed 22,000 times.

Set in Brooklyn in the present day, Pound of Flesh is described as “a tale of loyalty, love and redemption against the back drop of a seemingly impossible situation”, and features a prison tutor, Kat, and her student, Carter.

Byrne said: “A Pound of Flesh is an extraordinary book, packing an emotional punch on so many levels, beginning as the ultimate forbidden love story with an irresistible bad boy hero and a feisty, complex heroine, drawn together by a secret which connects them in ways they cannot foresee.

“I, and the whole Headline Eternal team, were blown away by Sophie’s innate storytelling ability, her remarkably authentic American voice and the intensity of emotion, passion and true love she brings so vividly to life.”

Belli said: “Sophie has created characters and a romance that haunts you long after you put the book down. It is a story that simply connects with people and proves utterly addictive - a collision of touching coming-of-age story, moral dilemmas, great plot twists, hot sex scenes and revenge, it will appeal to readers of New Adult fiction as well as of those of contemporary women’s fiction.”

The first book in the trilogy will be published simultaneously in the UK and the US in summer 2015.