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Ebury Press is to publish the memoir of "The Royle Family" and "Brookside" actress Sue Johnston.
Editorial director Charlotte Cole acquired world rights to Things I Couldn't Tell My Mother from Jan Thornton at Ken McReddie. The title will be published as an £18.99 hardback on 1st September.
In her memoir, Johnston will draw on her working-class Liverpudlian childhood, her teenage years in the Sixties when she worked for Brian Epstein and was friends with the Beatles, and her acting career. The title will focus on Johnston's relationship with her "harsh and difficult to love mother".
Johnston said: "There are lots of things that have happened in my life that I couldn't tell my mother. I suppose I didn't want her to disapprove or judge me. I often thought her harsh and difficult to love even though we were a close working-class family.
"But having looked after my mother when she was dying and having been without her for nearly three years, I can see now that the relationship we had formed the bedrock of my life. And I miss her. Because whatever age we are, we all feel like children at times, even when there may be no one there to be a child for."
Cole said: "Sue's memoir has all the stuff of a bestseller: a gloriously-recounted working class childhood in the 1950s and '60s, in Liverpool no less, and—in Sue's mother—a central figure who haunts the narrative. It certainly has echoes of autobiographies by Ricky Tomlinson, Paul O'Grady and Roberta Taylor, but Sue's story is a rich and emotionally-satisfying read all her own."
Johnston, who was awarded an OBE in 2009, has acted for more than 30 years including roles in "Waking the Dead" and "Jam & Jerusalem".