Hodder & Stoughton buys book on embracing the average by Eleanor Ross

Hodder & Stoughton will publish Good Enough: The Myth of Success and How to Celebrate the Joy in Average by journalist Eleanor Ross. 

Publisher Briony Gowlett acquired world rights from Anna Pallai at AMP Literary. The title will be published on 31st December 2020. 

Good Enough will explore how the pursuit of success and perfection "blinds us to the everyday pleasures of the ordinary." Ross believes that it's time for readers to press pause and rediscover their appreciation of the ordinary and average. 

Ross was inspired to write the book after she experienced a breakdown. Her own "burn-out" led to her questioning what drives people to push themselves so hard for success. 

Ross commented: "I think covid has shown us that we're starting to appreciate the smaller things in life, which are pretty fundamental to us as humans. I had so many questions when I started to write this book—why do I care so much about what others think of me? Why do I feel the need to have more and more? Who set society up in this way and are they happy, whoever they are?"

Gowlett added: "At this moment in time it feels as though the rug has been pulled out from underneath so many of our extraordinary plans, and we’re truly having to slow down and find value in what once felt distinctly average. Good Enough combines sobering memoir and deftly collected evidence to encourage us to think about how we measure personal success and show us that the good parts are often in the middle, the ordinary, and the average."