She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan

When the Zhu family's eighth-born son, Zhu Chongba, is given a fate of greatness, everyone is mystified as to how it will come to pass. For the starving peasants of the Central Plains, greatness is something found only in stories. In 1345, China lies under harsh Mongol rule. Kathleen Rushall at Andrea Brown Literary Agency represented Liang.About the Book 'To possess the Mandate of Heaven, the female monk Zhu will do anything 'I refuse to be nothing.' In a famine-stricken village on a dusty yellow plain, two children are given two fates. Liang ( This Time It’s Real) was born in Beijing, and grew up in China and Australia. The publisher said the title is a feminist take on the tale, comparing it to Ariadne by Jennifer Saint and She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan. The fall 2024–slated novel is a reimagining of the life of Xishi, one of four beautiful women from an ancient Chinese legend. Martin’s Press senior editor Tiffany Shelton took world English rights, in a two-book agreement at auction, to Ann Liang’s A Song to Drown Rivers.

It follows “a humanlike robot created to be the perfect girlfriend, and what happens when she learns to lie,” exploring questions about “intimacy, power, desire, and autonomy.” Kirby Kim at Janklow & Nesbit represented Greer, who’s making her adult debut with the title. The publisher compared the near-future-set novel, which Nintzel co-preempted with Suzie Dooré at HarperCollins UK’s Borough Press, to the fiction of Kazuo Ishiguro and the film Ex Machina. World English rights to Annie Bot by Sierra Greer were acquired for mid-six figures by Kate Nintzel at Harper-Collins’s Mariner imprint. The publisher said that in the book, Johnson, who became the world’s first Black female billionaire, shares her “inspiring story of overcoming toxic influences, discovering her true self, and at last finding happiness in her work and life.” Among other adversities, she overcame institutional racism in the boardroom, emotional abuse in her long-standing marriage, and the loss of a child to find “renewed purpose and meaning.” LaSharah Bunting, who is no longer at S&S, acquired the title Maria Mendez is now editing the book. Barnett at Williams & Connolly represented the entrepreneur and philanthropist in the world rights agreement.

Sheila Johnson, a cofounder of BET, sold her memoir, Walk Through Fire, to Simon & Schuster.