Jonathan Auxier - Publishing Deal

Today's email from Publisher's Lunch teases that debut Canadian author, Jonathan Auxier has a publishing deal for Peter Nimble and his Fantastic Eyes. I haven't been able to find out the details of the deal but I have found a synopsis for the book:

Now for those of you who know anything about blind children, you are aware that they make the very best thieves. As you can well imagine, blind children have the best sense of smell, and can tell what lies behind a locked door—be it fine cloth, gold, or wine—at fifty paces. Moreover, their fingers are so small and nimble that they can slip right through keyholes, and their ears so keen that they can hear the faint clicks and clacks of a lock’s many moving parts. Of course the age of great thievery has long since passed; today there are no child‐thieves left, blind or otherwise. At one time, however, the world was simply thick with them. This is the story of the greatest thief that ever lived. His name, as you’ve probably guessed, is Peter Nimble.


Overflowing with wit and invention, Peter Nimble is the utterly beguiling tale of a ten-year-old blind orphan who has been schooled in a life of thievery by his brutal master, Mr. Seamus. One fateful afternoon, as he’s picking the pockets of townspeople enraptured by a travelling haberdasher, he “discovers” (steals) a box of magical eyes. When he tries on the first pair, he is instantly transported to the island at the top of the world, where he meets the maker of the eyes, Professor Cake. The Professor gives Peter a choice: travel to the mysterious Vanished Kingdom and try to rescue a people in need… or return back to his master and a life of crime. Peter chooses wisely, and together with Sir Tode, a knight errant who has been turned into a rather unfortunate combination of human, horse, and cat by a grumpy witch, he embarks on an unforgettable adventure in a book destined to become a classic.