Mother and daughter duo Julia Hamilton and Arabella Byrne write alcoholism memoir for HarperCollins  

HarperCollins has today announced that it will publish a dual-voiced memoir, In the Blood, by mother and daughter Julia Hamilton and Arabella Byrne.  

Senior commissioning editor Marleigh Price acquired UK and Commonwealth rights from Matilda Forbes Watson at WME. In the Blood will be published on 7th November 2024 in hardback, e-book, audiobook and trade paperback. 

In the Blood is a memoir written collaboratively by mother and daughter that traces the thread of alcoholism through generations of women in one family. Journalist Julia, 68, and her novelist daughter Arabella, 40, ended up in the rooms of Alcoholics Anonymous just nine months apart, the first women in their family to find sobriety.  

The blurb reads: “Confronting the difficulties and contradictions that come with writing faithfully about those closest to us, and the ways in which memories can blur the boundaries of fact, this is an unflinching, darkly funny, and ultimately hopeful and redemptive family drama spanning generations, while looking pain and shame directly in the eye.”   

Price said: “The unwavering and clear-eyed honesty that runs through this book is unlike anything I’ve ever read. I’m so excited for us to launch a vital discussion around intergenerational alcoholism and recovery, particularly among women.” 

Hamilton said: “Alcoholism desperately needs to be talked about and understood much more fully than it is now. This book has been the great journey of my writing life; out of it – touch and go at times – has come a new relationship with my daughter who suffered so much as a child from the illness that, at the time, I had no words for.” 

Byrne said: "It has been the most extraordinary experience of my life to write this book with my mother. The process has been at times unbearably hard, at others joyful and, very often, hilarious.   

“As the child of an alcoholic and a recovering addict myself, I hope that this book will start a long overdue conversation around the dark legacy of female alcoholism and the silence and shame that continue to surround it.”