HQ snaps up second book from prison doctor Amanda Brown

HQ will publish the second book by Dr Amanda Brown, author of the bestselling debut The Prison Doctor.

Senior commissioning editor Kate Fox acquired UK and Commonwealth rights excluding Canada from Susan Smith at MBA Literary Agents. HQ will publish in paperback, e-book and audio in June 2020.

The Prison Doctor (HQ), published in June this year, spent nine weeks in the Sunday Times bestseller list and has sold 44,000 copies £198,000 since published in June. The memoir detailed her work at young offenders’ institutions, as well as Wormwood Scrubs and at Europe’s largest women-only prison in Europe, Bronzefield.

The second book from Brown “will again see her lifting the lid on the lives of her patients behind bars – this time focusing [exclusively] on the women she has encountered at Bronzefield, the biggest female prison in Europe,” HQ said.

Fox said of the deal: “Amanda’s incredible first book was an explosive look at life behind bars, with both hilarious and harrowing stories of her patients throughout her career. And the reaction has been amazing. She is such a dedicated doctor, often a passionate advocate for her patients, and this second title is a chance for her to write more about the women of Bronzefield, who have never had their stories told.’

Brown said: “I have been totally overwhelmed by the positive reaction to the publication of my first book. I feel very privileged to have an opportunity to write another with the help and support of the wonderful team at HQ and Susan Smith from MBA Literary agency, focusing in more depth on the lives of women in prison and what day to day life entails for them.”

She added: “Many of the prisoners are very excited that I can tell their stories in more detail. They do not have the voice to do so themselves, and really do want, and at times need, to be heard.”