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Faber has acquired Unspeakable by Dr Gwen Adshead and Eileen Horne, a “transformative” new book on trauma and healing from the authors of The Devil You Know (Faber, 2021).
Associate publisher Laura Hassan acquired UK and Commonwealth, including exclusive Europe and audiobook rights from Sophie Lambert at C&W, with publication scheduled for 26th February 2026.
Dr Adshead, who will deliver the 2024 BBC Reith Lectures, worked at one of the UK’s very first centres for traumatic stress, the Maudsley Hospital, and has treated patients for over 30 years.
In Unspeakable, she and Horne invite the reader into the treatment room to shed light on the meaning of trauma, using case stories to explore common misunderstandings and myths.
The book asks: "What does a traumatic event do to someone’s identity? How do we talk about unbearable loss? Can trauma be passed from parents to children? What happens when trauma goes unspoken? How can we best help people after profoundly traumatic experiences?"
In the book, Adshead describes her work with a range of patients who have faced life-changing distress, from a widow fleeing conflict to the survivors of a helicopter crash, from the victim of a mugging to a prisoner of war.
The synopsis states: “As she listens to their experiences, she helps these individuals to find new thoughts and new ways of relating to their bodies, their minds, their present. Their growth and healing lies not in recovering the old self, but in discovering the new. Filled with powerful insights on distress and discovery, change and hope, Unspeakable has important implications for sufferers of trauma and those close to them.”
Hassan said: “Just as Adshead challenged our understanding of violence in The Devil You Know, here she will unpick our understanding of trauma and bring us up to date with the latest science and treatments.”
Adshead and Horne said in a joint comment: “Faber is a sensitive, creative publisher whose books tell of the power of human stories to inform, surprise and even heal the reader.”