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Atlantic scoops Toynbee's 'remarkable' family history
Atlantic has scooped An Uneasy Inheritance: My Family and Other Radicals, a "remarkable" history from journalist Polly Toynbee.
Clare Drysdale, group associate publisher, acquired UK and Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada, from Clare Alexander at Aitken Alexander. The book will be published on 1st June 2023 in royal hardback and the audio format will be co-produced with W F Howes and will be narrated by the author.
The synopsis for An Uneasy Inheritance reads: "While for generations Polly Toynbee’s ancestors have been committed left-wing rabble-rousers railing against injustice, they could never claim to be working class, settling instead for the prosperous life of academia or journalism enjoyed by their own forebears. So where does that leave their ideals of class equality?"
"Through a colourful, entertaining examination of her own family – which in addition to her writer father Philip and her historian grandfather Arnold contains everyone from the Glenconners to Jessica Mitford to Bertrand Russell and features ancestral home Castle Howard as a backdrop – Toynbee explores the myth of mobility, the guilt of privilege, and asks for a truly honest conversation about class in Britain."
Toynbee said: "Social class is a great national obsession and it lies at the heart of every family story. The hard truth is that Britain is a lot less socially mobile than we like to think. I write about that class divide often in my Guardian columns – but this book is different. This time it’s personal. I’ve written about myself, my own social background and what it means to grow up solidly, securely middle class for generations. Yet my family of radicals has always rebelled against their own privilege, sometimes with absurdly contrary and comic consequences. It’s awkward living comfortably with uncomfortable consciences."
Drysdale added: "You may think you know Polly Toynbee, who’s been part of our media landscape for decades, fighting for social justice week in, week out in the pages of the Guardian. But did you know that her family tree includes everyone from Jessica Mitford to Bertrand Russell to the Glenconners? And that Castle Howard used to be the family pile? Polly excavates this remarkable history with one goal in mind: to explode the myth of class mobility in Britain. The comps are irresistible: it’s Hons and Rebels (W&N) meets Nickel and Dimed (Granta) or Lady in Waiting (Hodder & Stoughton) with a social conscience, and we can’t wait to share Polly’s story with readers next June.’"
