Melinda Beatty has had years of practice trying to explain to others why she was just having an imaginary conversation between two people that don't exist, so becoming a writer seemed like the best way to stop everyone looking at her funny. After years of narrowboat living on the English canals, she and her British husband are now back on dry land in Maryland where by day, she's a mild-mannered indie bookseller, and by night, she wrangles words, craft projects, a Labrador and two fierce mini-women.
Website: http://www.mmbeatty.com/
Twitter: @PoorRobin
TELL THE TRUTH, PANGOLIN - author
(Anne Schwartz Books, Oct 2022)
Rights: Penguin Random House
Pangolin is enjoying himself on the royal swing in the bright summer sunshine when suddenly, the ropes break and--OW!--he falls to the ground. What will I tell the queen?! Pangolin worries. He races to the stables to ask his friend Badger. "Tell her the musicians needed the swing's rope for their lutes!" the stablemaster advises. Fox, the castle guard, has a different idea: "Might you say that the King needed to repair his royal jump rope?" Pug, Cat, and Goose all have suggestions, too. But which story will Pangolin tell the queen?!
RIVERBOUND
(Putnam Books for Young Readers, June 2019)
Rights: Penguin Random House
Only Fallow can see lies - a cunning so powerful that the King insists on keeping her in the palace, tasked with helping him flush out traitors.
When the King’s counselor, Lamia, tells Only of her plan to oust the King and put his daughter on the throne, Only is eager to help. Though Only’s cunning would be useful to any ruler, the Princess had promised to send Only home when she becomes Queen. But Only soon learns the truth is a complicated matter - especially when the fate of a country hangs in the balance. Now wound tight in a twisted plot, Only must set the record straight to stop the destruction of everything - and everyone - she holds dear.
HEARTSEEKER
(Putnam Books for Young Readers, June 2018)
Rights: Penguin Random House
Russia (Career Press)
Only Fallow was just six harvests old when she realized that not everyone sees lies. For Only, seeing lies is as beautiful as looking through a kaleidoscope, but telling them is as painful as gnawing on cut glass. Only's family warns her to keep her cunning hidden, but secrets are seldom content to stay secret.
When word of Only's ability makes its way to the King, she's plucked from her home at the orchard and brought to the castle at Bellskeep. There she learns that the kingdom is plagued by traitors, and that her task is to help the King distinguish between friend and foe. But being able to see lies doesn't necessarily mean that others aren't able to disguise their dishonesty with cunnings of their own.
In the duplicitous, power-hungry court, the truth is Only's greatest weapon... and her greatest weakness.