John Murray seizes Harris' Maybe I’m Amazed in 10-way auction

John Murray has seized journalist John Harris’ Maybe I’m Amazed: A Story of Love and Connection in 10 Songs.

Publishing director Nicholas Pearson bought UK and Commonwealth rights to the book in a 10-way auction from Natasha Fairweather at Rogers, Coleridge & White, to publish in spring 2025.

The synopsis said: "Obsessed with music as a child – listening to everything he could lay his hands on, going to gigs, starting a band, and then pursuing a career in music journalism – John Harris had no idea that he was in fact preparing himself for the greatest challenge of his life. But so it transpired.

"When his son James was born, and three years later diagnosed with autism, music became their main form of communication, a hugely shared passion and – it is no exaggeration to say – the sound that saved them. In this extraordinary memoir, John Harris tells the story of how music has opened up the world to James, one song at a time."

Harris is an Orwell Prize-winning journalist, writer, podcaster and presenter, who has written professionally about music since he was 19. He is also known for his political and social writing, centred on his weekly column in the Guardian and the BAFTA- nominated film series, "Anywhere but Westminster".

He is the author of the pop-cultural history of the 1990s The Last Party (Harper Perennial), which is currently being developed for television, and the definitive work on Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of The Moon (Harper Perennial). In 2021, he turned 60 hours of recorded conversations into the authorised book that accompanied Peter Jackson’s Beatles documentary series "Get Back" (Callaway Arts & Entertainment).

Pearson said: "I’ve worked with John before, and I’m absolutely delighted to be reunited with him. This book will be very special. In exploring his relationship with his son, to whom music is a critical part of his connection to the world and those around him, John is in fact exploring the place of music in all our lives. I’m thrilled that John Murray will be publishing it."

Harris added: "This is a book I’ve been thinking about writing for a long time. The story it tells is partly about the mixture of struggle and revelation that comes with being the parent of someone autistic – but it’s really about the profound ways that music affects us all, and how it connects us in ways we still don’t really understand."