Hodder Children's buys 'terrifying' YA from Sigmarsdottir

Hodder Children's Books has bought an epic science fiction teen novel from Sif Sigmarsdottir, who is a bestselling author in her native Iceland and is now writing in the English language for the first time.

Publishing director Anne McNeil bought UK and Commonwealth rights in I Am Traitor: The Diary of Amy Sullivan, and a second book, from Sophie Hicks of the Sophie Hicks Agency.

I Am Traitor asks what if there really is life on another planet, and it decides to take you? McNeil said: "Each generation wonders 'what happens if they land on earth' and for each generation there is a different fantasy. For an army of 11-plus readers, Sif's fantastic book will answer that question in such a way as to leave you breathless."

Hicks said: "I am Traitor is the story of someone who is fighting to hold on to a semblance of normality during the breakdown of everything we take for granted," calling it "a stunning novel about survival, courage and the prevailing of the human spirit under extreme circumstances."

Sigmarsdottir has been writing childrens books for 10 years, and her YA novels are bestsellers in Iceland, with the most recent, Freya's Saga, nominated for the Icelandic Literary Prize. She is now living in London.

I Am Traitor will be published in autumn 2017.