Rider pre-empts Bowler's 'remarkable' memoir

Ebury imprint Rider has pre-empted No Cure for Being Human, a memoir from Kate Bowler, associate professor of the history of Christianity at Duke Divinity School. 

Bowler was 35 when she was diagnosed with stage four colon cancer, a journey she shared in her first memoir Everything Happens for a Reason and Other Lies I've Loved (SPCK). Before she got sick, she had accepted the idea "that life was an endless horizon of possibilities, a series of choices which, if made correctly, would lead to a rewarding existence". But in No Cure she asks: "How do we create meaning in our lives as we race against the clock?". She will explore both the comically absurd and the profound, discovering how to live bravely and make sense of it all, even when she's told life could come to an end at any moment, says the publisher.

Lucy Oates, commissioning editor, pre-empted UK and Commonwealth rights from Victoria Hobbs at A M Heath. She said: "As soon as I read the first page of Kate’s remarkable memoir, I knew this was a book I wanted to publish. At a time when our lives have never been further from our control, and we’re all trying to work out what constitutes a meaningful existence in this strange new world, Kate’s message couldn’t be more important. She writes with such warmth and wit, honesty and hope, and shows us the freedom to be found in facing our own mortality. At Ebury, we’re all so excited to be sharing this wonderful book with readers this autumn."

Bowler added: "This past year has been one of exhausting finitude for everyone. We wanted more and we’ve been forced to accept less and less. I feel so grateful to have this opportunity to talk honestly about how we can find beauty and meaning and truth without having to pretend that life is always getting better."