New Thomas Harris Novel to be Published in December

New Thomas Harris Novel to be Published in December

LONDON, September 19/PRNewswire/ -- William Heinemann, an imprint of the Random House Group,
announced today that it will publish the new novel by Thomas Harris, Hannibal
Rising, on the 5th December 2006.

In Thomas Harris's previous novels, which include The Silence
of the Lambs and Red Dragon, readers learned that Dr. Lecter saw his entire
family killed during World War II in Eastern Europe. The new, 356-page novel,
which chronicles the early life of Dr. Lecter, covers the young Hannibal from
age 6 to 20, and will shed more light on the circumstances of those deaths,
with a focus on Dr. Lecter's memories of his younger sister, Mischa.

Since his first novel, Black Sunday, in 1975, Thomas Harris
has published only three other books, each published by Random House. All
were bestsellers. Hannibal was a Number 1 Sunday Times bestseller in 1999
with UK hardback sales of 700,000 copies and over 1.5 million copies in
paperback. 2006 is the 25th anniversary of the date Dr. Hannibal Lecter was
first introduced to the world in Red Dragon.

"His books are very, very complex, and I think he thinks about
them for a long time before he puts a pen to paper," said Mort Janklow,
Harris's agent. Susan Sandon, publisher at Random House, said the timing was
perfect. "There has been a great deal of excitement anticipating the return
of Hannibal and we are delighted to be able to confirm the book's publication
this year. Thomas Harris is a wonderful writer and the book is well worth the
wait."

The film version of the new novel, for which Harris also wrote
the screenplay, will be released in February 2007. The film, which is
produced by the Dino De Laurentis Company, stars Gaspard Ulliel, the French
co-star of the 2004 film A Very Long Engagement, as the young Dr. Lecter.

William Heinemann have UK and Commonwealth rights for this and
for a further novel by Harris. Hannibal Rising will also be published
simultaneously as an audio book by Random House, with Thomas Harris reading
the text.

Source: The Random House Group Ltd

For further information please contact Cassie Chadderton, William Heinemann Publicity Director, on +44-(0)20-7840-8773 or email cchadderton@randomhouse.co.uk

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