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L.A. journalist and author Hilary de Vries, whose first novel So Five Minutes Ago follows the life of fictional celebrity publicist Alex Davidson, has sold The Gift Bag Matters and another untitled novel to Villard. Publishers Lunch says the deal is in the low six figures.
Also in this week's Lunch: Former film agent Alison Bond's first novel, a humorous take on the world of the Hollywood PR girl, to Penguin in a two-book deal. And Hollywood animal wrangler Ralph Helfer has sold Zamba, a memoir of the lion he raised and employed in movies and commercials, to Harper.