Why Mummy Swears coming in July

HarperCollins UK has acquired world rights in a second novel by Gill Sims. Following 2017's Why Mummy Drinks, Why Mummy Swears will publish on 12th July 2018.

Why Mummy Swears is touted as "similarly laugh-out-loud" to the first book, continuing the story of Ellen and her "charmingly dysfunctional but wholly recognisable" family as they begin the school summer holidays. Rights were bought from Paul Baker at Headway Talent by editorial director, Katya Shipster.

Why Mummy Drinks hit the number one spot on Kindle and has now sold over 100,000 copies, according to HarperCollins. Its author's Facebook community has amassed 350,000 fans and the book has been shortlisted in The British Book Awards' Debut Book of the Year category.

According to Sims, in the new book, her protagonists' children are "slightly older but no wiser, and bringing Ellen a whole new set of challenges as they move away from Pokemon to dip their toes in the murky pond of social media."

"Simon is still hiding in his shed, Lucy Atkinson's Mummy is marginally less Perfect, and some fool has put Ellen in charge of the PTA!  What could possibly go wrong?" Sims added.

As well as proving "as relateable" as the novel that came before it, Shipster joked the book would also be "a sh*tload swearier".

"Why Mummy Drinks became something of a phenomenon last Autumn – going far beyond Gill Sims’ ardent Peter and Jane fanbase and chiming with a much wider audience of readers who discovered Gill’s riotous writing for the first time in their droves," she said. "Why Mummy Swears is as hilarious, as outrageous, as relatable and a sh*tload swearier. We are delighted to be publishing it just in time for every parent’s worst nightmare; the school summer holidays."