Publishers respond to Bland's 'moving' memoir

Rachael Bland’s memoir, For Freddie, was submitted to publishers at the start of the week, and already has one publisher offer on the table, Bland's agent has confirmed.  

Heather Holden-Brown at hhb agency told The Bookseller Bland's memoir was "very personal, moving and without self-pity". The manuscript was submitted to publishers on Monday morning (3rd September), as had been planned with the family the preceding month, being the first day most publishing teams were back at their desks following the summer break.

The Radio 5 Live presenter, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in November 2016, died yesterday (5th September) aged 40. She had been writing the book for her three-year-old son Freddie to read when he is older, after discovering her cancer was incurable in April. The manuscript consists of 11 chapters, with the hope that her husband Steve will be able to add some closing pages.

"My main plan has been to write my memoir, For Freddie, which is almost finished,” said Bland in an article published by HuffPost on Tuesday. “It’s a collection of all those stories your parents tell you over the years from their point of view, mixed in with all the advice they give you."

Bland was widely known as the co-host of influential podcast “You, Me and the Big C", in which she documented her cancer treatment.