The hottest series this season continues to conquer the world: French rights of Ann-Christin Antell’s bestselling Cotton Mill trilogy have been acquired by Marabout, an imprint of Hachette, the largest publisher in France and the third largest publishing group in the world.
This is the second foreign rights sale for the trilogy; a few weeks ago, Danish rights were sold to People’s Press. The French deal was made with the help of our wonderful partner in France, Anna Lindblom from the Nordik Agency.
Founded in 1949, Marabout joined Hachette Group in 1983. With ca. 500 new titles published every year and numerous collections on its list, Marabout’s primary focus is “to give pleasure to their readers”.
Dubbed as Bridgerton meets L. M. Montgomery, the trilogy began with The Shadow of the Cotton Mill, in 2021, depicting the life of an independent woman in an era when industrialists make up the new elite, women demand equality, and Finland’s status as a nation is undergoing a transformation. The book immediately swept the hearts of the Finnish readers: speedily climbing to bestsellers’ lists, the novel sold close to 40,000 copies in Finland altogether.
The second instalment of the trilogy, Heir to the Cotton Mill (2022), picks up the story in the early 20th century, when Finland’s cultural elite, with their strong sense of nationhood, find themselves at odds with Russia’s increasingly oppressive policies. The book has already sold 20,000 copies in Finland.
The third book, A Rival for the Cotton Mill, is due to be published in 2023.
Congratulations to the author!