Bond scores hat trick for Aurum

Katie Bond has made her first three acquisitions for The Quarto Group's Aurum imprint, which she joined as publisher last July. 

Amongst Bond's buys is John Volanthen's One Breath at a Time: 13 Lessons that Saved 13 Lives. Volanthen is a British cave-diver and one of the two-man team who discovered and rescued the Wild Boars soccer team from the sunken cave in Tham Luang, Thailand. One Breath at a Time is the "deeply revealing and nail-biting" account of that incredible rescue. 

World English rights were acquired at auction from Rory Scarfe of The Blair Partnership. The title will be published globally on 1st September 2021 and has two film-tie ins: the autumn 2021 cinema release of a National Geographic documentary, followed by "Thirteen Lives", a movie directed by Ron Howard, in spring 2022. 

Bond commented: "This is an extraordinary story that gripped the world and John Volanthen’s book proposal is nail-biting and inspirational in equal measure. We’re delighted to be publishing him at Aurum and look forward to publishing the bestseller this deserves to be."

Bond also pre-empted world English rights, including e-book and audio, to Peter Hughes' A History of Love and Hate in 21 Statues from Carrie Kania at C&W Agency. Billed as a "timely history of the world spanning every continent, religion and era", the title will be published on 21st August 2021. 

Finally, UK and Commonwealth rights for Erin French's Finding Freedom in the Lost Kitchen were acquired from Ben Fowler at Abner Stein on behalf of Janis Donnaud, who sold US rights to Celadon Books. The memoir—described by Bond as "a gutsy, riveting story of the multiple rock-bottoms behind the fairytale success of her restaurant"—will be published in the UK on 4th May 2021.