Oundjian buys first titles for Avon

Victoria Oundjian, editor at Avon Books UK, has acquired her first three titles since joining the imprint last year, from authors Vanessa Carnevale, Tracy Corbett and Joanne Sefton.

She bought world rights excluding Australia and New Zealand to the “heart-warming romance” The Memories of Us by Carnevale from Rachel Clement at Abner Stein, due for publication in July.

“From the first page I fell in love with The Memories of Us and found myself reading the book in under 24 hours, complete with tears and laughter. I am so delighted to be bringing Vanessa Carnevale’s heart-warming romance to Avon,” she said.

She bought world all languages for digital first romance novels by Corbett from Tina Betts at Andrew Mann as well as two books from Sefton. Oundjian negotiated the acquisition of world English rights for Sefton’s deal with Peter Buckman at The Ampersand Agency with the first novel, slated for publication in September, to be a psychological thriller.

She said: “If They Knew is a dark and gripping women’s fiction novel that delves into long-hidden secrets and the destruction it can wreck on one family. Joanne has completely captured the complexities of mother-daughter relationships within a story that readers will be utterly gripped by.”

Oundjian joined the team as editor at the end of last year. Formerly head of HQ Digital, she has published many number one kindle bestsellers including the imprint's bestselling e-book of 2016, Between You and Me by Lisa Hall.