Calon buys ‘deeply moving’ memoir by former National Poet of Wales Gwyneth Lewis
Calon has signed Nightshade Mother: A Disentangling, the “moving” memoir from Gwyneth Lewis, former National Poet of Wales.
Former publisher Amy Feldman acquired world rights from James Macdonald Lockhart from James Lockhart Agency. Abbie Headon, publisher, has edited the book for publication in September 2024.
Drawing on childhood diaries, Nightshade Mother explores Lewis’ upbringing with her “controlling and coercive” mother. The publisher added: “Using art and literature to steady her during this painful interrogation of the mother/daughter relationship, the book takes a forgiving and loving approach to an agonising subject.”
Lewis commented: “It’s taken me a lifetime to muster the courage to face the full nature of my emotionally abusive upbringing. But I kept notes. Nobody breaks the taboo of speaking about cruelty within the family lightly but, compared with feeling suicidal and being chronically ill, looking at the truth has been exhilarating. I wrote this book for all those who have suffered in silence at the hands of a coercive parent. At times, I feared the experience would kill me but I now know that it’s possible to see the full shape of abuse and, with the utmost creativity, to survive.”
Headon added: “This is a deeply moving memoir of a painful upbringing, told with scrupulous honesty and heart-breaking detail by one of the UK’s foremost poets. Gwyneth Lewis’s story is uniquely her own, but it will resonate with anyone who has lived through a difficult relationship...Despite the pain in these pages, this is a book about hope, and I am excited for people to read it this autumn.”
