Books that have people talking at Frankfurt Bookfair

The Frankfurt Book Fair is the focus of book publishing negotiations and licensing agreements. – AFP pic, October 17, 2015.With the Frankfurt Book Fair at the halfway point, we look at a few of the titles that are causing a stir.

EO Chirovichi,  "The Book of Mirrors"

Perhaps the biggest Frankfurt buzz has been for this Romanian novel, whose rights deals were mainly done before the fair began. In the book, written in English, a New York literary agent receives a partial book submission and suspects that its author may be revealing details about a murder committed 25 years earlier. Bids were coming in from around the world, The Bookseller reported.

Elan Mastai, "All Our Wrong Todays"

The debut novel by Canadian screenwriter Elan Mastai ("What If") was the subject of a seven-figure North American deal before the fair began, reported Publishers Weekly. In it, a man from a Utopian alternative universe winds up in the real 2015 after a time travel mishap and must decide if he wishes to stay.

Jane Harper, "The Dry"

Reese Witherspoon's production company secured film rights to this debut novel, one of the fair's hot titles, according to Deadline. In the Australia-set story, a policeman returns to his hometown to bury a friend who was behind a murder-suicide, as secrets from his own past become known. The book was the subject of more than a dozen publishing deals.

Marlon James, "A Brief History of Seven Killings"

The Man Booker Prize winner was announced just as publishers were descending on Frankfurt, and it has been the subject of deals worldwide, according to The Bookseller. Readers in Italy, France, Spain, the Netherlands, Russia and Sweden can look forward to getting their hands on the novel, a retelling of an attempted assassination of Bob Marley in 1976 Jamaica.

The Frankfurt Book Fair is the largest international event of its kind, welcoming 250,000 visitors annually and serving as the principal international venue for the negotiating of literary rights and licensing. It runs through October 18. – AFP, October 17, 2015.