INTO THE FRAGILE DARK by Paige Santschi receives multiple global six-figure deals

We’re delighted that INTO THE FRAGILE DARK by Paige Santschi, a sweeping love story debut, has been acquired by Headline Review and has sold in a further eight territories, including multiple six-figure pre-empts. Sherise Hobbs, Publisher at Headline Review, has acquired UK and Commonwealth rights excluding Canada for INTO THE FRAGILE DARK and an untitled second novel amid a “whirlwind” from Juliet Mushens. Santschi’s debut will be released as a lead title in Summer 2027.

INTO THE FRAGILE DARK received its first “significant” six-figure pre-empt within 24 hours of submission for German rights from dtv. It has since sold in a six-figure pre-empt to Clio Seraphim at Random House in North America and there have been additional pre-empts in Finland (WSOY), Holland (Boekerij) and Italy (Corbaccio) other deals wrapped up in France (HarperCollins), Sweden (Lind) and Ukraine (Family Leisure Club).

In the vein of  WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING and  THE PAPER PALACE,  INTO THE FRAGILE DARK is “a sweeping novel braiding past and present, about a woman haunted by the loss of her first love, whose life is thrown into turmoil when a mysterious young man who looks eerily similar to her childhood sweetheart shows up looking for work on her family’s apple orchard and thrusts her back into memories of one fateful summer, ultimately sending her on a journey of self-discovery – about love, life, grief, hope and the secrets that bind us to one another”.

Sherise Hobbs said about the deal, “This gripping, moving and atmospheric novel of secrets buried on an apple orchard in Upstate New York had us all spellbound. The story of a married woman fighting to hold on to her land and torn between the love of two different men also simmers with longing”.

Juliet Mushens called the Santschi’s debut, “an incredibly special novel – Paige is masterful at creating emotion and sweep. I cried my way through the final pages of the novel, and have been blown away by the instant response to this book”.

Paige Santschi has a PhD in comparative literature from The Graduate Center at the City University of New York and previously taught writing and literature at UC San Diego and San Diego State University. She said she was “thrilled” to be working with Hobbs and Seraphim, “two incredible editors whose passion for the story was evident from the start”.