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HarperNorth has landed an "unflinching" memoir by Jacob Dunne, which he hopes will shine a light on the reforms needed to break "an endless cycle of criminality and hopelessness".
Senior commissioning editor, Jonathan de Peyer, acquired world English language rights to Right From Wrong: My Story of Guilt and Redemption from Charlie Brotherstone of Brotherstone Creative Management. The book will publish in hardback, e-book and audio in March 2022.
The publisher said: "In 2011 Jacob Dunne killed a man with a single punch in an unprovoked attack. Sentenced to prison for manslaughter, he served 14 months of a custodial sentence. On his release, he found himself homeless, unemployed and struggling to find a sense of purpose. But with the help of others, and with the encouragement of his victim’s parents, he managed to get his life back on track."
The book follows the course of Dunne's life, beginning on a council estate in Nottingham. Beset by problems at home and at school, Jacob drifted into drug-related gang culture, drinking heavily and fighting for fun before a fateful night changed the course of his life. The publisher added: "Unflinching in its account of Jacob’s guilt and shame, this book will reveal how Jacob used the experience to turn things around. He has been actively involved with Restorative Justice programmes including the Forgiveness Project, has reconciled with those he has hurt, earned a first-class degree in Criminology and become a husband and father. By telling his story, he hopes he might help people to avoid the kind of mistakes he made." Some of Dunne’s story has previously been told in the Aria-winning Radio 4 series "The Punch".
De Peyer said: "Right From Wrong is a deeply humane and honest book, offering an unflinching look at the relationship between criminal justice and men’s mental health. It has a strong core message about forgiveness that should be a source of hope for us: our worst problems might be overcome, our worst errors atoned for, as Jacob has attempted to atone for his own."
Dunne added: "One of the motivations behind Right From Wrong stems from my fear of how bad we are at talking and listening to each other — and how normalised violence is becoming because of these basic societal failings. But the book is also my own attempt to reclaim my life story, and to perhaps extract some positivity from the worst thing I’ve ever done in my life. HarperNorth is of course a great home for my debut. From the start they have shared my passion and hope for Right From Wrong, and they have a clear ethos I believe in."