You are viewing your 1 free article this month. Login to read more articles.
Rider acquires OCD memoir from 'Downton Abbey' actor Tuppence Middleton
Ebury imprint Rider has acquired a memoir from British actor Tuppence Middleton about living with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).
Lizzy Gray, publisher at Pan Macmillan’s Bluebird imprint, previously acquired UK and Commonwealth rights to Scorpions: A Memoir from Jane Finigan at Lutyens & Rubinstein. Editorial director Ru Merritt is now leading the project.
Middleton is a Bristol-born actor perhaps most famous for playing Lucy Branson in the last series of the "Downton Abbey" feature films. Her appearances also include the blockbuster "Jupiter Ascending", "Black Mirror" and in the BBC series "Dickensian" in which she portrayed Miss Havisham.
Middleton’s memoir follows her life with OCD. The actor “visualises her OCD as scorpions inhabiting her mind, something to be hidden that impacts her life daily”.
The book will be a "visceral, revelatory and beautifully written memoir" about what it is really like to live with the condition, which will be "raw, uncompromising and peppered with dark humour. It will surely be a conversation starter, helping people with OCD feel less alone, and opening up this world those who don’t have the disorder".
Middleton said: "I am equal parts delighted, nervous and filled with gratitude to be releasing my first book. It has been a pleasure to write, both liberating and exposing, and I hope it will offer readers a chance to learn more about a frequently misunderstood condition through storytelling, as well as providing some hope to those harbouring scorpions of their own."
Meritt added: "Scorpions is full of purpose: it’s a book that opens up the real-life experience of what it’s like to live with OCD in such a personal, heartfelt and thoughtful way. A necessary antidote to the too-often jokes that we are all guilty of leaning on that belittle the seriousness of the condition [when we say]: ‘I’m a little bit OCD!’"
"However, while Tuppence compellingly counters the common misconceptions around OCD, she also brings a brilliantly wry lightness to her storytelling which reflects the ultimately hopeful message of this extraordinary book —that it is very much possible to live a truly happy and beautiful life with OCD. This is a book for anyone who wishes to better understand and have compassion for how others experience the world."
Scorpions will publish on 27th February 2025.
