Santa Montefiore and S&S strike new three-book deal

Simon & Schuster UK has signed a new three book deal with Santa Montefiore. 

Suzanne Baboneau, managing director, Adult Publishing Division at Simon & Schuster UK, acquired UK and Commonwealth rights via Sheila Crowley at Curtis Brown to publish Summer 2018.

The first novel in the deal will explore three aspects of love: "old love, first love and the rekindling of an existing love," according to S&S. It is set Tuscany both in the 1960s and in the present day, moving between the two as its protagonist, an English grandmother "with an extraordinary past" in Italy, slowly reveals her story to her daughter and 17-year-old granddaughter. 

The publisher has been publishing epic romance novelist Montefiore's frontlist and backlist since 2011 which is now approaching sales across all formats of 2m copies, S&S said. According to Nielsen BookScan, in total she has sold 1.64m books for £8.19m, with her biggest hit The House By the Sea, at 142,534 copies sold. Her next book is The Last Secret of the Deverills, publishing with S&S in July. 

Montefiore said: “I'm extremely excited to be signing up for three more novels with Simon & Schuster, who made me into a bestseller and have published my novels so beautifully over the last seven years. I'm enormously grateful to them for their expertise and enthusiasm. I don't see an end to my love of writing, and I have so many more ideas, including another Deverill book, so I'm very happy to have the privilege of being part of the S&S family for another three years.”

Baboneau said: “Santa and her agent Sheila are a constant joy to work with, and Santa’s new novel – exploring three aspects of love: old love, first love and the rekindling of an existing love – sounds magical. Our ambition for this supremely talented author knows no bounds and we are thrilled to be continuing our relationship.”

Montefiore last year teamed with Simon Sebag Montefiore on a first children's book, The Royal Rabbits of London, illustrated by Kate Hindley and published by Simon & Schuster Children’s Books. It has gone on to bag a film deal with 20th Century Fox Feature Animation and last month to inspire an afternoon tea experience at the Grosvenor House hotel.