New Adam Kay for Christmas 2019

Paul Baggaley at Picador (on behalf of Francesca Main, who is on maternity leave) has acquired world rights and audio from Cathryn Summerhayes at Curtis Brown for a new book by Adam Kay, author of hit bestseller This is Going to Hurt.

Twas The Nightshift Before Christmas is described as "the hilarious, poignant and entertaining story of the life of a junior doctor at the most challenging time of the year", with 25 tales of intriguing, shocking and incredible Christmas incidents faced by NHS workers."The British public will finally appreciate the sacrifices made and the challenges faced by the unsung heroes of the NHS," said the publisher.

Twas The Nightshift Before Christmas will be published in October 2019 in a gift edition, "fully illustrated (as tastefully as possible)", said Picador.

Kay said: "Having caused potentially irreparable damage to the high-end nature of the Picador brand, I see it as something of a challenge to somehow lower the tone even further. I think I've managed to achieve this with Twas The Nightshift Before Christmas, a kind of hideous medical advent calendar. An advent catheter, maybe. And there is no group of people in the world I'd rather share all these bodily fluids with than Francesca Main, Paul Baggaley and [sales and brand director] Anna Bond."

Across all editions This is Going to Hurt has now sold 505,299 copies via Nielsen BookScan's TCM, and spent 27 weeks as the Paperback Non-Fiction number one.