Cull and Co. Ltd In the Media

Authors in the Media – April 2023

Spies and secrecy are the theme for April.

Sarah-Louise Miller celebrated the publication of her new book THE WOMEN BEHIND THE FEW (Biteback) in a media blitz, appearing on the popular We Have Ways of Making You Talk podcast with Al Murray and James Holland.

The Daily Mail ran an article about the WAAF. Dr. Miller, tells how members of the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) overcame prejudice and smashed stereotypes. RAF chiefs initially feared women were too gossipy and prone to hysterics for vital military work in the Second World War.

She also wrote an exclusive article for the Daily Express below.

She also appeared with Professor Alice Roberts for a brand new documentary series on Channel 4 called Fortress Britain. She can be seen in episode 2.

You can catch up with History Hit Podcast with Dan Snow too here.

In the run up to publication of BURNED (Vine Leaves Press) on May 16, Sue Dobson was interviewed for a two-part BBC World Service broadcast called Lives Less Ordinary, entitled ‘The Spy who Wanted to bring down Apartheid.’

Sue Dobson was a white South African who risked her life as an ANC secret agent.

This can be listened on catch-up here. It will broadcast on the BBC World Service in May.

Lucy Hooft’s sequel to THE KING’S PAWN – HEAD OF THE SNAKE (Burning Chair) – was published on March 30th and was included in the Financial Times’ thriller roundup by fellow spy writer Adam LeBor, describing her ‘fine eye for detail‘ in a story that ‘moves seamlessly‘.

Holly Watt, journalist, crime writer and winner of the 2019 CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger, said, ‘It’s so exciting to see a powerful female character like Sarah Black emerging. A fast-paced espionage thriller that feels fresh and exciting – and takes you to some shocking places. It will keep you up far too late!‘

Acclaimed veteran spy writer David Brierley’s return from the cold, DEAD MAN TELLING TALES (Safe House Books), received high praise as Mike Ripley’s Book of the Month in Shots Crime & Thriller eZine saying it was, ‘written with all the sly cynicism of the spy world, along with some wonderful descriptions of a country coming to terms with a changing present while living with memories of a cruel history, this is Brierley’s first novel in more than twenty years and an elegant reminder of what a fine writer he is.‘ An enjoyable conversation between Ripley and Brierley can be heard at the Spybrary website too.

It was also written up at Beyond the Books as ‘an absolute cracker of a book. The story is so skilfully woven together. I couldn’t put this book down from the very start. The research must have been immense. The authenticity of the story just placed me there, in Latvia.‘

Cull and Co. Ltd Latest Deals

BURNED: THE SPY SOUTH AFRICA NEVER CAUGHT to Vine Leaves Press

World English Language rights have gone to Vine Leaves Press, and audio rights have gone to Tantor Media for Sue Dobson’s explosive spy memoir. The book will publish on May 16, 2023.

In the 1980s Sue Dobson was a young, middle class, South African white woman, who risked everything to spy for the ANC during the latter days of the brutal Apartheid regime.

She lived a ‘legend’—a life where she pretends to conform, moving easily through the echelons of the racist government in her work as a journalist, whilst concealing her espionage and military training in the Soviet Union, and her intelligence work for the banned African National Congress.

Matters come to a head when sinister forces try to derail the Namibian independence process and Sue’s cover is blown during a difficult honey trap operation, bringing the Cold War to Africa, and leading to her desperate flight across Southern Africa with the Apartheid security police snapping at her heels.

This is the story she has spent the last 30 years hiding.

“An unflinching memoir of a spy during a tumultuous time and unsavory alliances. Dobson recounts her recruitment, training, and espionage with rare self-awareness.” – ★★★★★, Henry R. Schlesinger, author of Honey Trapped

Recent press include an interview on BBC Radio Cornwall, an article in The Observer, an episode on Spyscape’s True Spies podcast narrated by Vanessa Kirby, an interview for Russian media site Meduza and a new two-part BBC World Service radio programme Lives Less Ordinary, broadcast today and the following Monday.

Film rights are under option. The book can be pre-ordered here.

 

Cull and Co. Ltd In the Media

Authors in the Media – March 2023

This month sees the publication of Sarah-Louise Miller’s The Women Behind the Few and she’s been busy, appearing on the Dan Snow’s History Hit podcast and her publisher Biteback’s own podcast.

Dan goes down into the earth with Dr Sarah-Louise Miller, who brings their stories to life in the room where the Battle of Britain was organised, overlooking the very maps that show what happened there during that decisive summer of 1940. Dr Sarah-Louise’s new book ‘The Women Behind the Few’ puts the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force back at the heart of Britain’s war, exploring what they did- collecting and disseminating vital intelligence- that led to the Allied victory.

Mary Novakovich was featured in Time Out magazine and her book was listed in National Geographic ahead of the Stanford Travel Awards, one of eight finalists nominated for the prestigious Edward Stanford Travel Book of the Year due to be announced in London on March 16.

Adam BatterbeeŠtrbački Buk

Finally, Robert Sellers’ book The Secret Life of Ealing Films, was featured in the Daily Mirror. The book reveals the secrets from behind the scenes of classic movies, including a crevasse fall by John Mills and the stunt that nearly drowned Alec Guinness.

The Secret Life of Ealing Films by Robert Sellers is out now published by Dean Street Press.

 

Cull and Co. Ltd Latest Deals

THE CAMBRIDGE FOOTLIGHTS: A VERY BRITISH INSTITUTION to Bloomsbury Methuen

Bloomsbury Methuen has acquired world all language rights (excluding dramatic rights) to THE CAMBRIDGE FOOTLIGHTS: A VERY BRITISH INSTITUTION by Robert Sellers.

This book will tell the story of Britain’s oldest student sketch comedy troupe, whose notable alumni include Emma Thompson, Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, Julian Fellowes, John Cleese, Peter Cook and Richard Osman. As well as being a detailed history of the Footlights, the book will include first-hand interviews with former Footlights alumni, extracts from past Footlights productions, and illustrations, including a reproduction of posters, flyers and programmes.

“Like a night sky in the countryside, the more you look, the more stars you see,” wrote comedian and Footlights alumnus David Mitchell in his 2013 memoir. “Footlights seem to be behind about half of the stuff worth paying attention to.”

The Cambridge Footlights

Robert Sellers is the author of over 25 books on subjects such as cinema, theatre, television, music and popular culture. These include Raising Laughter: How the Sitcom Kept Britain Smiling in the ’70s (2021), as well as authorized biographies of Oliver Reed, Kenny Everett and Ernie Wise, along with histories of Ealing Studios, Radio 1 and the Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals.

Cull and Co. Ltd Latest Deals

RUSSIAN NIGHTS: TESTIMONIES FROM THE SOVIET TERROR to Vernon Press

Vernon Press has acquired World English Rights rights to a book that follows the work of Solzhenitsyn and Shalamov, and expands on the spectrum of GULAG stories.

The testimonies, gathered between 2001 and 2005 of actors implicated in different aspects of Soviet life roughly through the period 1917-1956, are from ex-prisoners of the GULAG, survivors of the Siege of Leningrad, veterans of the Russian front in World War II, military men and common people, in cities and the countryside. This book presents autocracy not merely as a past historical curiosity, but as a present call of alarm before the advances of autocracy seen throughout the world today.

Echavarren notes, “The details of the Jewish Holocaust have become part of our history through the testimony of those who survived the death camps. The details of Lenin’s and Stalin’s reign of terror are far less known because they took place behind a wall of secrecy, and because survivors have been loath to speak about them for fear of retribution.”

Roberto Echavarren is a Uruguayan poet, novelist, essayist and translator with a Ph.D. from the University of Paris VIII and taught at New York University from 1975 to 1995 in the Spanish and Portuguese, and Comparative Literature Departments. He is the director of La Flauta Mágica publishing company, specializing in critical bilingual editions of poetry and the rescue of major poetical works written in Spanish.

Prizes include the National Prize of the Ministry of Culture of Uruguay, essay; National Prize of the Ministry of Culture of Uruguay, poetry; Nancy Bacelo Foundation Poetry Prize; Cultural Center of Spain Theatre Prize.

Cull and Co. Ltd In the Media

Authors in the Media – January 2023

We welcome the new year with several agency authors in the media.

Lucy Hooft was interviewed on the Curtis Brown Creative Writing Course blog. Lucy Hooft studied their six-week online Write to the End of Your Novel and Edit & Pitch Your Novel courses in 2018. Her debut The King’s Pawn (book one in The Sarah Black Series) is out now with independent publisher Burning Chair. She spoke about the lifelong friends she met on our courses, her love of thrillers and her journey to publication.

Mary Novakovich had a Croatia feature in print in ⁦Times Travel. Her new Croatia travelogue, is shortlisted for the ⁦Stanfords Travel⁩ Travel Book of the Year award.

She even shared her diet tips with the Daily Telegraph!

Wish you were here?

There was also a review of BEHIND CLOSED DOORS for The Past Magazine and a review for Graydon Carter’s Airmail digital magazine.

The Marquess of Worcester and Lady Liza Campbell at Annabel’s, one of London’s best-known members’ clubs.
© Copyright Photograph by Dafydd Jones
Cull and Co. Ltd In the Media

Authors in the Media – December 2022

Behind Closed Doors by Seth ThevozIn this month’s media roundup of agency authors, you can’t keep a good book down as Seth Thevoz’s Behind Closed Doors, was named by London’s Heywood Hill bookshop as one of the “10 BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR!” 

The TLS also gave the book a terrific review, describing it as ‘“Exuberant, rollicking… Behind Closed Doors is full of amusing anecdotes and waspish character sketches.”’.

In podcast news, Andrew Jeffrey was interviewed on the Spycraft101 podcast about his book A Taste for Treason, out now. You can also read the the preface to Andrew’s book, completely free here.

Staying on the spy podcast theme, Henry Schlesinger was interviewed on the International Spy Museum’s Spycast to discuss his newest book, Honey Trapped: Sex, Betrayal, and Weaponized Love, which explores the fascinating relationship between sex and spying.

And… you know about Benjamin Franklin in Paris as a “bon vivant, wily diplomat and aging lion,” but read Henry’s article about him as the “Founding Forger” engaged in disinformation and fake news during the Revolution!

Sarah-Louise Miller reveals the forgotten history of the intelligence battle that set up a decisive victory at Midway on the History Hit podcast. Her new book is available for pre-order and published on March 16th 2023.

Lucy Hooft appeared on two podcasts to discuss her debut spy novel The King’s Pawn: The Writer’s Routine and The Hobcast. Her novel is inspired by a real life event no-one has heard of, and takes place around the South Caucus region, which few people know about.

Finally, a double for Mary Novakovich and C. J. Schuler, whose books appeared on Wanderlust magazine’s best travel books for 2022.

And in wonderful news, as Mary’s book ‘My Family and Other Enemies: Life and Travels in Croatia’s Hinterland’. was shortlisted for the Edward Stanford Travel Book of the Year. Published by Bradt Guides.

Cull and Co. Ltd Latest Deals

HAWAII’S WOMEN OF WAR to Pegasus Books in the USA

North American rights for Hawaii’s Women of War have gone to US publisher Pegasus Books.

In focusing on the work of women in wartime Hawaii, this book will cover the war in the Pacific and will examine historical events such as the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the Battle of Midway from a totally new angle. It will offer a novel and interesting contribution to Hawaii’s history, as well as to US history.

Though some work has been carried out on American nurses in the Pacific, especially those taken as prisoners of war by the Japanese in the Philippines and in Guam, there remains a conspicuous gap in Pacific war history where women should be. It will examine the work of American women, but it will also look at the wartime work of Pacific Islanders and Polynesian women, many of whom have never before been considered in a study of the Second World War.

Sarah-Louise MillerSarah-Louise Miller is a graduate of the Department of War Studies, King’s College London and is uniquely qualified to write this book, having spent the past five years working full time on researching women in British intelligence roles.

In June 2022 she appeared as a historical expert on the British Pacific Fleet on an episode of the BBC’s Who Do You Think You Are, featuring actor Ralf Little. In late June 2022 she filmed with Channel 4 for the documentary series, My Grandparents’ War, explaining to actress Keira Knightley what her grandmother’s World War II service entailed, and she featured as a historical expert on a brand new documentary series alongside Professor Alice Roberts.

Sarah regularly films in London studios, most recently for a four-part historical documentary for Sky History. She was also featured as a historical expert in a six-part international documentary series for Sky History, entitled The Bomber: Terror of World War II.

Cull and Co. Ltd In the Media

Authors in the Media – November 2022

In this month’s media roundup of agency authors, Tim Stanley gave Fr Mark Vickers’ new book, ‘God in No. 10’, 4/5 Stars in The Daily Telegraph.

Is the Holy Ghost a vote-winner? Prime Ministers and God, from Balfour to Boris.

‘From Churchill’s faith in Jewish philosophy to Ramsay MacDonald’s love of horoscopes, Mark Vickers’s God in Number 10 is full of surprises. Vickers, himself a Catholic priest, has given us a wonderful new reference book of the beliefs (and non-beliefs) of 20th-century PMs – a meaty volume that can also be consumed as a social history of British religion.’

Mark wrote a column for Credo in The Times, on how new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will draw on the Hindu concept of service.

He also wrote a column for The Daily Express, asking whether our politicians have abandoned God and with it any moral compass.

‘Does Party-gate or the Chris Pincher scandal count for nothing? The values of the Government must consist of more than narrow interest or the struggle for mere survival.’

Charles Moore noted the book in The Spectator, which he helped launch on Wednesday 26th at the House of Commons. God in Number 10 was published by SPCK on October 20th.

The personal faith of PMs

And speaking of God, Seth Thévoz will appear as a regular guest on the podcast Oh God, What Now? Listen to him on his first episode here.

He also wrote an article for Sphere Magazine that uncovers the history of London’s Private Members’ Clubs, and lists the clubs – old and new – to know now.

The Strangers’ Room at The Reform Club In London

Andrew Jeffrey’s A Taste for Treason was well reviewed in The Times.

And Mary Novakovich’s My Family and Other Enemies was reviewed in the Literary Review.

‘Guidebooks tend to tell readers why it is worth going to see somewhere today. Novakovich has written those too, but this book explains what lies behind what is worth seeing. The human hinterland is as fascinating as the landscape.’