Author fetches $2M advance for her debut novel

Author Lara Prescott has turned into an overnight millionaire after her debut novel “We Were Never Here” — a fictionalized account surrounding the writing of the book “Dr. Zhivago” — triggered a spirited auction that fetched her an advance estimated at close to $2 million.

The auction, run by Folio Literary Management, attracted interest from 21 different imprints, and the Knopf imprint of Penguin Random House eventually landed the highly sought-after complete manuscript.

Sources told Publishers Weekly that the agency left some of the money on the table in deciding to go with Knopf, even though it was not the highest bidder.

“It was a good advance, but not enough to buy a Fabergé egg,” said Knopf spokesman Paul Bogaards.

Jeff Kleinman at Folio Literary was also tight-lipped when it came to the size of the advance. “It’s a beautifully written book and she’s a lovely writer.” The book was also sold to 11 overseas markets with auctions for another six still underway at press time on Thursday.

Knopf was the original publisher of “Dr. Zhivago.” Prescott’s novel centers on the CIA efforts to translate the book into Russian and smuggle it into the country, hoping it would paint a harsh picture of communism.

It’s the second high-stakes auction in the book world in recent weeks. Sources said that just before the Memorial Day break, the Flatiron imprint of Macmillan agreed to pay a $1 million advance for “American Dirt” by Jeanine Cummins, a novel about a mother and son crossing the US border from Mexico in an effort to flee violent drug gangs in their native land.