Suede frontman Brett Anderson's memoir sold after 10-way auction

Little, Brown has bought Suede founder and lead singer Brett Anderson's memoir Coal Black Mornings. 

Richard Beswick at Little, Brown acquired the book from Charlie Brotherstone at Ed Victor, following a 10-way auction. 

The memoir tells Anderson's story of growing up in the early 1970s on a council estate, in between Brighton and London, under the "eccentric influence" of his father, "a taxi driver who roams around the pebble dash maisonette in Lawrence of Arabia robes whilst air-conducting his beloved Liszt and polishing the maritime memorabilia".

The title refers not only to the death of Anderson's mother, and the loss of his lover, but also to the "choked Britain" of the early 1990s.

"This is a memoir which is so very good we would have wanted to publish it, whoever the author," said Beswick. "The fact that it is by the founder of an internationally successful band of course adds to the attraction. But fundamentally it is a classic memoir, which can stand alongside books like This Boy’s Life and Alan Johnson’s memoirs, as well as music books such as those by Mark Oliver Everett and Tracey Thorn."

Little, Brown will publish in hardback in the spring of 2018 to coincide with the 25th anniversary of Suede’s first album, and then in Abacus paperback.

World rights were bought from Charlie Brotherstone at Ed Victor Ltd.