Fourth Estate wins Sarah Aspinall memoir at auction

Fourth Estate will publish film director and documentary maker Sarah Aspinall’s memoir, following an auction. 

Publishing director Helen Garnons-Williams acquired British Commonwealth rights in Diamonds at the Lost and Found: A Voyage Around My Mother. Publication is scheduled for Summer 2020.

A memoir in the vein of Hideous Kinky, Dadland and Bad Blood, said 4th Estate. Diamonds at the Lost and Found is the story of Aspinall’s childhood, and a love letter to her mother Audrey.

Garnons-Williams said: “We couldn’t be happier to be publishing this joyful, mischievous and warm-hearted memoir. It’s an inspirational story of defying convention, of the (sometimes exasperating) bond between parents and children, and an evocation of an England that has all but disappeared.”

“Born into poverty in 1930s Liverpool, Audrey had always known that she was destined for better things and was determined to shape that destiny for herself. From the fading seaside glamour of Southport, to New York and Hollywood, to post-war London and the stately homes of the English aristocracy, Audrey stylishly kicked down every door that opened to her, on a ceaseless quest for excitement – and for love,” reads the synopsis. “Once Sarah was born, she became Audrey’s companion on her adventures, travelling the world, scraping together an education for herself from the books found in hotels, and living on Audrey’s charm as they veered from luxury to poverty – on her mother’s desperate search for ‘the one’.”

Aspinall added: “Having finally written the story my friends have been begging me to write for years, I’m now realising just what an extraordinary figure my mother was, and that the rackety life we shared was in many ways a series of gifts. What a joy to find it will be published by Helen and the brilliant team at 4th Estate.”

Walsh said: “How do you survive in the slipstream of a mother like Audrey? A great wit, dancer and flirt, Audrey would never take no for an answer and was constantly kicking down doors to meet people - once even crashing her car in order to force a date. (Reader, she married him!) Then, all those years later when you’re finally an adult, Audrey entrances all your friends and takes them dancing in tango halls... A completely astonishing memoir, fuelled by laughter and exasperated love.”