Chatto & Windus signs ‘empowering’ memoir Newborn by Hudson

Chatto & Windus has signed Newborn, a “beautiful, empowering memoir about creating a family in the midst of chaos, and learning new ways to find happiness”, by Kerry Hudson.

It continues the journey the author started in her bestselling memoir Lowborn, the publisher said, “illuminating her experiences of becoming a mother, reshaping her future and reclaiming her identity".

Becky Hardie, deputy publishing director, acquired rights in UK and Commonwealth territories, including Canada, from Juliet Pickering at Blake Friedmann Literary Agency. Chatto & Windus will publish Newborn in hardback in spring 2024.

The publisher said: “Kerry Hudson is celebrated for her emotionally and politically powerful writing about growing up in poverty. Her books and journalism have changed the conversation and touched countless lives. In this new book she asks: what next, after a childhood like hers? What hope is there of creating a different life for herself, let alone future generations?

“We see how Kerry found love, what it took to decide to start a family of her own and how fragile every step of the journey towards parenthood was. All along the way, she faces obstacles that would test the strongest foundations, from struggles with fertility to being locked down in a Prague maternity hospital to a marriage in crisis. But over and over again, her love, hope, fight – and determination to break patterns and give her son a different life – win through and light her path.”

Hudson said: “As with Lowborn, this continues the tradition of writing the book I needed to read myself. I know I am one of many who experiences the aftershocks of childhood deprivation and who has complicated or estranged relationships with their own mothers. I didn’t have a map for motherhood or a blueprint for building a healthy family but in this book I explore how, with love, laughter and the hardest lessons, it is absolutely possible.”

Hardie commented: “Ever since Chatto published her first novel, we’ve watched as Kerry’s beautifully open and honest writing has reached and inspired more and more readers. She truly has changed lives, and the publishing industry.”