Crown Signs Novelist Keith Donohue To Two-Book Contract Worth Around $1.3 Million

Keith Donohue, author of the bestselling novel The Stolen Child, closed on a two-book deal with the Crown Publishing Group yesterday worth about $1.3 million, according to publishing sources familiar with the agreement. Mr. Donohue's agent, Peter Steinberg, declined to give the precise value of the deal, but confirmed that it was in the seven figures.

Mr. Steinberg said the first of the two books, called Angels of Destruction, is about a nine-year-old girl who "may or may not be an angel."

The book was acquired by Sally Kim of Shaye Areheart Books, an imprint of Crown. Mr. Steinberg said that he turned down four preempt bids and was intending to take the book to auction before Ms. Kim made her offer yesterday.