Coronet buys self-published 'phenomenon' The Cancer Whisperer

Hodder imprint Coronet has acquired a memoir and self-help book chronicling a woman’s relationship with cancer.

The Cancer Whisperer by Sophie Sabbage was first self-published as an e-book, with the aim of helping people to deal better with a cancer diagnosis or the diagnosis of a loved one.

Sabbage was herself diagnosed with late-stage "incurable" lung cancer in October 2014 when she was 48 years old with a four-year-old daughter. Since that day she has worked toward "healing and transformation" by choosing to "take cancer off the battlefield and into the classroom". And as a result it has both changed her vocation and her life "for the better".

She shared her journey first through her blog, I Have Cancer, Cancer Does Not Have Me. Now her book, The Cancer Whisperer, is hoping to offer "a radically different way of relating to this disease". This includes methods for dealing with fear, anger, denial and grief, as well as "practical" help and "shortcuts to the mass of information out there", through sharing the research she has done, the treatments she has chosen, the diet she follows and the resources that she feels have made the biggest differences.

Mark Booth, publisher Coronet, bought UK and Commonwealth rights at auction from Valeria Huerta. The book is scheduled for publication on 10th March.

Sabbage is a long-term teacher of "mindset change". She said: “This book is for the cancer patient who wants to remain a dignified, empowered human being even when your doctors and diagnosis are scaring the hell out of you. It is also for the cancer patient who has a hunch that there is something for them to learn, gain or even be transformed by – if they just knew how to relate to this disease differently to the way most of society does. It is for the cancer patient, perhaps any patient, who is looking for another way.”

Booth said: “Sophie Sabbage throws a wonderful new lifeline to everyone with cancer. She is a writer and a thinker, and I’m glad to be a part of the start of her writing career. Read this book. Whether or not you have cancer, it will turn your life around.”