Who’ll Adopt the Next Marley & Me?

By Neal 

garth-stein.jpgSources tell us that no sooner had Folio started sending out The Art of Racing in the Rain, the third novel from Garth Stein (left), than three houses sent in immediate offers, with six figures already being tossed around in rejected pre-empts and the likelihood of an auction later this week raising the stakes even higher. So what’s all the fuss about? Well, Stein was a BookSense pick for his last novel, How Evan Broke His Head and Other Secrets, but something tells us there’s an even bigger reason for the book’s instant popularity among acquiring editors: It’s narrated by “a loyal family dog” named Enzo, who, our source tells us, “seems to be able to reduce hard-as-nails New Yorkers to crying messes as quickly as you can say “unconditional love.'” Yep, that’d do it…