Holden Caulfield to Roam Manhattan in New Novel

The young-adult author Mary O'Connell's first novel for grown-ups will feature perhaps the most famous young adult in literary history: Holden Caulfield.

Amy Einhorn Books recently acquired rights to “In the Rye,” in which “Caulfield steps out of the pages of ‘The Catcher in the Rye' and into the life of a high school senior searching Manhattan for her missing American lit teacher,” according to the announcement of the deal on the Web site Publishers Marketplace.

In the past, Salinger's estate has aggressively acted to keep other artists from drawing on his work. In 2009, a writer using the pen name John David California was legally barred from publishing in the U.S. his own novel starring Caulfield as an old man unloosed from the page. That book, “60 Years Later: Coming Through the Rye,” was published overseas, and American critics managed to have their say.

An imprint of Putnam, Amy Einhorn Books is best known for publishing “The Help.† The publisher did not return requests for comment about “In The Rye.”