A Successful Year At The Agency
December 2010
It has been a fantastic year for the Darley Anderson Agency, which has just celebrated the start of its 22nd year.
From record breaking bestsellers to the Teen of Queen, below are some of the successes from the past year at the Darley Anderson Agency.
Bestseller List:
Throughout every week of 2010, the Darley Anderson Agencys brilliant and talented authors have featured on one or more international Bestseller lists.
These brilliant bestselling authors include: Martina Cole, Lee Child, John Connolly, Lesley Pearse, Tana French, Jane Costello, Chris Mooney, Cathy Cassidy, Clare Dowling, Tim Weaver, Margaret Dickinson, Chris Carter, Tara Hyland, Annie Murray, Alex Barclay and Carmen Reid.
DA authors as well as dominating the UK chart, have repeatedly featured on bestseller lists around the world in the US, Australia, New Zealand, Europe and Asia. 
In the final week of October 2010, two of Darley Anderson's authors took the No.1 Hardback Bestseller positions on both sides of the Atlantic.
In the UK Martina Cole's The Family rocketed to the top of the The Sunday Times Hardback Bestseller list (and overall fiction). Whilst in the US, Lee Child's Worth Dying For took prime position on The New York Times Bestseller list.
The Family by Martina Cole has just spent 8 weeks in the No.1 position on the hardback Bestseller List in the UK smashing the 2010 HB record.
Lee Child has been very prominent on the Bestseller List throughout 2010. 61 Hours has just spent its 15th week on the paperback Bestsellers List whilst Worth Dying For has just spent it's 11th on the Hardback List.
Top Picks:
Both 61 Hours and Worth Dying For along with Stolen by Lesley Pearse have been named in the Top Ten Fiction Books for 2010 in the New Zealand Sunday Star Times.
Tana French's Faithful Place and Lee Child's 61 Hours feature in the influential New York Times book critic Janet Maslin's Top 10 Books of 2010.
In the Woods by Tana French was picked as being one of the Top Ten best reads of the Noughties by Amazon.com
Faithful Place also by Tana French is No.2 in the overall Editors Picks 2010 on Amazon.com and is in the Top 100 2010 in Publishers Weekly.
Prize Winners and Nominations:
- Cathy Cassidy was announced the Queen of Teen
- Nearly-Weds by Jane Costello won Romantic Comedy Novel of the Year Award at the Royal Novelist Association Awards.
- Animal Instincts by Nell Dixon won Love Story of the Year at the RNA Awards.
- John Connolly's The Lovers and Tana French's In the Woods were both shortlisted for this years Irish Book Awards 'Book of the Decade'.
- Wintercraft by Jenna Burtenshaw has been nominated for the Peoples Book Prize.
- The Glass Demon by Helen Grant has been nominated for the prestigious Carnegie Prize.
- Carolyn Jess-Cooke was nominated for the well respected London New Poetry Award
Carnegie Favourite
November 2010
For the second consecutive year Helen Grant is in the running for the prestigious Carnegie Prize.
The Glass Demon has been nominated along side books by Rick Riordan, Alex Scarrows, Patrick Ness, Michael Morpurgo, Marcus Sedgwick and Carol Ann Duffy, among others.
The Carnegie Medal is awarded to an author of an outstanding book for children, every year. Last year Helen's fantastic first novel, The Vanishing of Katharina Linden was shortlisted.
Click here for more information.
***bestseller*** Sales Success
October 2010
After 12 weeks of sales, Stolen by Lesley Pearse is still at the top.
Stolen has just spent its 12th in the Paperback Bestsellers list selling over 210,000 copies.
Since storming into the Bestseller's list in July, and remaining firm in the charts, Stolen has shown itself as the read of the summer, proving that Lesley is definitely one of the UK's best loved novelists.
The Queen Of Teen
August 2010
Cathy Cassidy has been officially crowned the Queen of Teen.
Tens of thousands of girls worldwide voted for their favourite teen author. Cathy Cassidy was announced the Queen of Teen 2010, beating the likes of Louise Rennison and Jaqueline Wilson.
The award was founded in 2008 to celebrate the fantastic teen and tween authors who bring so much enjoyment to their readers, dealing with real-life issues in a way that is honest, entertaining and fun!
For more information on the award click HERE.
***bestseller*** Top Of The Times
July 2010
On the week of the 19th July Darley Anderson Authors made up 10% of The New York Times Bestsellers list.
Faithful Place by Tana French shot to no.8 joining The Whisperers by John Connolly at no.23 and 61 Hours by Lee Child, no.30, both of which had already spent a good number of weeks established on the list. It is an amazing achievement for Tana's third novel Faithful Place to enter onto the NY Times Bestseller list in such a high position.
A huge congratulations to all three authors.
***bestseller Success***
May 2010
For the fourth week running, Darley Anderson's Authors have made up 10% of the Paperback Fiction Bestseller list.
Jane Costellos My Single Friend and Milly Johnsons A Summer Fling have both moved up in the chart.
Martina Coles Hard Girl, Annie Murrays Soldier Girl and Gone Tomorrow by Lee Child are the other DA titles featuring on the list.
There is also news from the Hardback Fiction Bestseller list, with The Whisperers by John Connolly still in the top 10, at No.8 and Lee Childs 61 Hours at No. 13 after 11 weeks on the list.
***bestseller*** CONNOLLY'S LATEST MUCH MORE THAN A WHISPER
May 2010
The Sunday Times bestselling author of The Lovers, John Connolly is back with a spine tingling new novel, and is storming the charts after only three days of sales.
The Whisperers, released on the 13th May, shot into the No.4 position in the UK Hardback Bestsellers list and into the No.1 position in Irelands, and has been receiving fantastic reviews.
Tremendous stuff, as Connolly's novels always are. Mark Timlin, Independent on Sunday
His latest plot is a clever mixture of quest and chase, written in prose that unfolds at warp speed, and rarely fails to sing. The Observer
The chilling new thriller, The Whisperers, sees the return of much loved hero Charlie Parker
The border between Maine and Canada is porous. Anything can be smuggled across it: drugs, cash, weapons, people. Now a group of disenchanted former soldiers has begun its own smuggling operation, and what is being moved is infinitely stranger and more terrifying than anyone can imagine. Anyone, that is, except private detective Charlie Parker, who has his own intimate knowledge of the darkness in men's hearts.
But the soldiers' actions have attracted the attention of the reclusive Herod, a man with a taste for the strange. And where Herod goes, so too does the shadowy figure that he calls the Captain. To defeat them, Parker must form an uneasy alliance with a man he fears more than any other, the killer known as the Collector . . .
***award Nomination*** Carnegie Medal Shortlist Announced...
April 2010
The Vanishing of Katharina Linden by Helen Grant has been shortlisted for Britain's oldest and most prestigious award for children's writing, The Carnegie Medal.
The CILIP Carnegie Medal, established in 1936, in memory of the great Andrew Carnegie, who set up over 2800 libraries, is awarded annually to an outstanding book for children and young people.
All eight books that feature in 2010s shortlist, including Terry Pratchetts Nation, have been picked for the way they deal with some of life's most challenging issues in an intelligent and highly accessible way, offering heroes and heroines that young readers can relate to and a life affirming sense of hope. Carnegie Medal Press Desk
Judges have described The Vanishing of Katharina Linden as An accomplished, darkly comic debut novel which grips the reader as it builds its macabre layers to a horrifying conclusion. Its German setting, and Pia's family are extremely well captured as are the dark undercurrents in small-town society.
The winning titles will be announced at an awards ceremony on 24 June 2010.
For more information on the Carnegie Medal visit their website, www.carnegiegreenaway.org.uk
***award Nomination*** EVERYBODY LOVES CATHY
February 2010
Angel Cake by Cathy Cassidy has just been shortlisted for the Red House Children’s Book Award. Angel Cake has made it from the 50 longlisted books down to the final 10 shortlisted.
Cathy told Red house that she thought ‘It’s fantastic! Red House is one of the coolest book awards ever as it is voted for by children…’ Cathy is now off to China for the Beijing International Bookworm Festival.
13 Secrets Trailer
December 2010
Simon and Schuster created this fantastic new trailer of Michelle Harrison's final installment in the 13 trilogy- 13 Secrets.
Not So Hidden Treasure
November 2010
The magical 13 Treasures by Michelle Harrison
has been chosen as one of School Library Journals Best Books of 2010!
The monthly publication, School Library Journal is the world's largest reviewer of books, multimedia, and technology for children and teens. Although some historical and contemporary books were amongst the top picks, fantasy came out over all on top.
''In this frightening fantasy/ghost story/murder mystery, Tanya is tormented and bullied by fairies that no one else can see. When children start disappearing, she is compelled to enter the fairies' realm even though she may be trapped there forever. Great characters, a fascinating plot twist, and a death-defying ending.''
For the full list of School Library Journal's Best Books of 2010 please click here.
Cathy Cassidy's Sister Stories
August 2010
Newly announced Queen of Teen 2010 Cathy Cassidy shot into the Children's Bestseller list with her latest book Cherry Crush: The Chocolate Box Girls.
Cherry Crush is Cathy's new series for over-nine's. The Chocolate Box Girls is the first book in the series, telling the story of five very different sisters.
In a recent article Cathy lists her all time favourite stories about sisters:
Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild
The Twelve Dancing Princesses by the Brothers Grimm
I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Hideous Kinky by Esther Freud
The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides
For the full article please click here.
***new York Times Bestseller***
August 2010
After hitting The New York Times list on August 1st, 2010, at No.23, The Whisperers by John Connolly is continuing to pick up fantastic reviews.
"Connolly displays a real knack for fusing the detective and horror genres, providing a rational chain of evidence and deduction for the plot while simultaneously creating a real atmosphere of numinous dread that reminds us that mystery can refer to more than a mundane tale of crime and human justice." Publisher's Weekly
In the hands of a lesser writer, this could easily be a bit too much, but in Connollys skilled hands, it turns into a page-turning thrill ride that you wont want to put down. Sacramento Book Review
The Whisperers is John Connollys latest Charlie Parker suspense thriller. Along with the current success in the US, the novel was also a hit here in the UK, spending nine weeks in the Hardback Bestsellers list. The Whisperers will be available in the UK in paperback next January.
To read more about John click here.
***award Nomination*** Queen Of Teen
June 2010
Cathy Cassidy has been nominated for the Queen of Teen award.
Cathy Cassidy has been shortlisted for this award along with nine others authors, including the likes of Jaqueline Wilson.
The award was created to celebrate teen authors that bring huge enjoyment to their readers, whilst dealing with real life issues.
The shortlist is decided upon by teenagers nominations, with an online vote to find the Queen of Teen.
You can vote for Cathy by clicking here.
The winner will be announced in September.
***bestseller*** Thrilling Sales
May 2010
John Connollys latest Charlie Parker thriller has been moving up the charts this week.
The Whisperers, dubbed by the Daily Mail as Sensational went straight into the Hardback Bestsellers list at No.4 last week after only three days of publication. However, after a fantastic week of sales John Connolly's latest has moved up to No.3 in the Bestsellers list.
The Whisperers is continuing to receive superb reviews...
Brilliant, terrifying and effortlessly seductive, I defy anyone to put this thriller down - it is sensational. The Daily Mail
Another creepy thriller from a modern master The Daily Mirror
This is one of Connollys darker, scarier novels, all the more effective for the way the supernatural elements arise organically out of realistic detail Connolly is excellent as always at using primal archetypes to create an atmosphere of apocalyptic dread. Cancer-ridden antiquities collector Herod I am often asked if I am fond of children is one of the most haunting characters in an oeuvre not exactly short of them. John OConnell, The Guardian on Sunday .
Heralded As The Stieg Larsson Of Teenage Fiction
April 2010
We are immensely proud to announce the publication of Carnegie nominated Helen Grants second novel, The Glass Demon (6.99 Penguin).
The First Death Seventeen-year-old Lin Fox finds a body in an orchard. As she backs away in horror, she steps on broken glass.
The Second Death Then blood appears on her doorstep- blood, and broken glass.
The Third Death Something terrible is found in the cemetery. Shards of broken glass lie by a grave.
WHO WILL BE NEXT? As the attacks become more sinister, Lin doesn't know who to trust. She's getting closer to the truth behind these chilling discoveries, but with each move the danger deepens.
Because someone wants Lin gone- and won't give up until he's got rid of her and her family.
Well-plotted and beautifully written, it is everything a young-adult novel should be. Helen, please keep on writing. The Independent
A gripping, atmospheric adventure. The Observer
The Glass Demon is published by Penguin/Puffin UK and is available now.
***award Nomination*** The Gates In The Final 10!
April 2010
The Darley Anderson Agency are extremely excited to announce that The Gates, by John Connolly, has been shortlisted for The Bisto Book of the Year Award 2009/10.
The book awards, in partnership with the CBI, (National Organization for Childrens Books in Ireland) sponsored by Bisto, is the most prestigious award of its kind in Ireland. The awards are open to any children's book by an author and/or illustrator born or resident in Ireland, written in Irish or English and published between 1st January and 31st December each year.
John is down to the final 10 contestants. The winner will be announced on Monday 24th May.
Visit www.childrensbooksireland.ie for more details.