Headline to publish Bryony Gordon's sobriety memoir

Headline is publishing a new memoir from author, journalist and mental health campaigner Bryony Gordon, called Glorious Rock Bottom, in May. 

Gordon said her aim was to help take some of the shame and stigma away from alcoholism and communicate that "however dark things get, there is always a way out".

In Glorious Rock Bottom, Gordon opens up about her 20-year relationship with alcohol and drugs and explains why hitting rock bottom – for her, a traumatic event and the abrupt realisation that she was repeatedly putting herself in danger– saved her life. According to Headline, Gordon "bravely re-lives the darkest and most terrifying moments of her addiction, taking us on a rollercoaster ride through rehab, AA, painful self-reflection and life-changing friendship to self-acceptance, hope, and a joy and pride in staying sober that her younger self could never have imagined".

Publishing director Sarah Emsley bought world rights from Nelle Andrew at PFD and the book will publish in hardback and e-book, priced at £16.99, on 14th May. 

The campaign for the book will be supported by a series of live events produced in collaboration with production company Fane, which will be publicly announced in early February.

"Bryony has never been afraid to explore the darker aspects of her reality and this book takes the power of her writing to a new level," said Emsley. "In turn, shocking, brutal, funny, hopeful and uplifting, Glorious Rock Bottom is a sobriety memoir like no other. We couldn’t be prouder to be publishing it this spring."

Gordon, who has worked for the Telegraph for almost 20 years, is the author of The Wrong Knickers, Mad Girl  and Eat, Drink, Run (Headline), and You Got This: A Fabulously Fearless Guide to Being YOU (Wren & Rook) which she wrote for teens. Through the TCM she has sold a total 209,900 books for £1.45m, with her bestseller Mad Girl at 90,086 copies sold in paperback.

Gordon said: "I am so grateful that Headline have once again allowed me to write something that others might have distanced themselves from. I am not proud of where my drinking took me, but I am proud of this book, and I hope it will help to take some of the shame and stigma away from alcoholism, in the same way that Mad Girl did for OCD. I hope that people – whether they are alcoholic or not -– will feel comforted by this book, and know that however dark things get, there is always a way out."