MJ strikes new two-book deal with Liane Moriarty

Michael Joseph has struck a new two-book deal with Big Little Lies author Liane Moriarty.

Publishing director Maxine Hitchcock bought UK and Commonwealth rights (excluding Australia and New Zealand) for two new novels from Jonathan Lloyd of Curtis Brown on behalf of Fiona Inglis of Curtis Brown Australia.

The news follows the publication of her new novel Nine Perfect Strangers, released on 4th October, which Moriarty is currently in the UK to promote. While film rights have already sold to Nicole Kidman and Bruno Papandrea, with Kidman set to star, the publicity campaign for Nine Perfect Strangers in the UK includes extensive media coverage - for example with The Sunday Times Magazine, BBC Breakfast, BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 4 Open Book and a Book at Bedtime serialisation (8th-18th October), BBC 5 Live, Woman & Home, Fabulous, Mail on Sunday and Metro Books podcast - while the marketing campaign includes national television advertising and a London Underground poster campaign.

Hitchcock said she was "delighted" to have two new novels from Moriarty to anticipate, calling her writing "the real deal" with sales only going "from strength to strength" as more and more readers discover her "refreshing, intriguing and addictive voice".

According to Michael Joseph, Moriarty has sold 14 million books worldwide, two million in the UK alone. Through Nielsen Bookscan, she has sold 1.09 million copies for £5.4m, with The Husband’s Secret her biggest at 460,324 copies sold. Big Little Lies - now an Emmy and Golden Globe-winning HBO series, produced by and starring Nicole Kidman and Reese Witherspoon – is her fourth biggest seller.