Publishing deals du jour

I am spending a very exciting lunch hour alternately typing letters to publishers (to accompany copies of reviews from November's HNR) and going through Publishers Marketplace. Some deals of interest:

Elissa Elliot's EVE, retelling the life of the world's first woman in the vein of "The Red Tent," to Tracy Devine at Bantam Dell, by Daniel Lazar at Writers House (NA).

This one isn't historical, but it sounds hysterical (sorry...)

Alan Gratz's SOMETHING ROTTEN, Hamlet rewritten as a contemporary murder mystery set in fictional Denmark, Tennessee, with the character of Horatio recast as a wry, Philip Marlowe-esque seventeen-year-old detective, to Liz Waniewski at Dial, in a nice deal.

From the "prequels and sequels" department:

Budge Wilson's authorized prequel to Anne of Green Gables, BEFORE GREEN GABLES, the story of Anne's early life in foster homes and an orphanage in Nova Scotia, to Helen Reeves at Penguin Canada, for publication in 2008.

Barnes and Noble Discover Award winner Lenore Hart's BECKY, which imagines the "true" story of Becky Thatcher, Tom Sawyer's sweetheart and companion, past her days of adventure with Huck and Tom, into her years as a young mother on the frontier and beyond, to Hilary Rubin at St. Martin's, by Christine Earle at ICM (World).

From the "this is all over the web but here it is anyway" department:

Jonathan Littell's LES BIENVEILLANTES, aka THE KINDLY ONES, to Jonathan Burnham at Harper, in a major deal, for $1 million, and to Alison Samuel at Chatto & Windus (which says it was not the highest bidder) in the UK, for publication in spring 2008, by Andrew Nurnberg at Andrew Nurnberg Associates. Canadian rights to Ellen Seligman at McClelland & Stewart. Related New York Times article here.