You all know Anne Nesbet, right? The author of the breathtakingly gorgeous novels THE CABINET OF EARTHS and A BOX OF GARGOYLES, as well as the soon-coming THE WRINKLED CROWN? I'm sure you all do—but if you don't, trust me. These novels will fill some place inside you didn't even know was empty.

When Anne first approached me about representation (the above books are pre-EMLA), she came my way with a brand new work-in-progress—something completely different from her published novels. But oh, was it stunning! Instead of magical realism in a contemporary world, Anne's newest novel is a work of historical fiction—a character-rich story of twists and turns, spies and lies, and a young boy (and his astonishing stutter) caught up in the midst of some pretty extraordinary circumstances. I like to think of it as Rebecca Stead meets John Le Carre.

Set in 1989, CLOUD & WALLFISH is the story of a boy whose ordinary life comes apart when his parents whisk him away to a new home behind the "Iron Curtain" in East Berlin, where he finds himself in a whole new world—filled with all kinds of dangers he can't even begin to imagine. But the biggest dangers of all might just be the ones closest to hand.

Needless to say, this book was met with a flurry of enthusiasm, and ended up selling at auction to the wonderful Kaylan Adair at Candlewick Press. Even better? It sold in a two-book deal, so let's give Anne a double-sized cheer, shall we?

Hip, hip, hooray!

~ Joan