New Nigella cookbook to Chatto

Chatto & Windus has acquired an "uplifting" new book by Nigella Lawson for autumn 2015, to be titled Simply Nigella: Food to Nourish Body & Soul.

The “inspirational and practical” cookbook is about “cooking food that makes our lives easier, the sort of cooking that can be incorporated into our daily lives and celebrated without any stress, food that will make everyone feel better, both in body and mind”.

It will include 150 recipes, from everyday meals to indulgent dishes for special occasions.

An accompanying television series will be announced at a later date.

Vintage imprint Chatto & Windus acquired UK and Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada, from Ed Victor Ltd. Publishing director Clara Farmer said: “Nigella is writing an essential modern cookbook that mirrors how we eat today – and one we yearn to read, cook and eat from. Vivid, uplifting and beautifully balanced, Simply Nigella is set to be the go-to cookbook for our times.”

Earlier this year Chatto & Windus launched The Nigella Collection – all of Lawson’s bestselling cookbooks repackaged with a new look to celebrate more than 15 years of publishing the cook. However Simply Nigella will be the first new Lawson cookbook to follow a period of much-publicised personal turbulence including last year's divorce from Charles Saatchi and the fraud trial of her two former personal assistants.

Total sales for Lawson's titles via Nielsen BookScan stand at 3,557,189 copies, with her most recent, Nigellissima, selling just over 228,000 copies.