As reported in the Observer three weeks ago, two new books by Latin American author Oscar Hijuelos — one of them a memoir, the other a novel — have been sold to two different publishers. Though the deals were all but finalized around Christmas, the books were officially announced today: the memoir, as predicted, will be published by Gotham Books, and the novel, a spin-off of Mr. Hijuelos Pulitzer Prize-winning Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love, will be published by Hyperion.
The novel, titled Beautiful Maria of My Soul, is scheduled for 2009, and the memoir, Thinking Without Cigarettes, should follow a year later.
