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Picador has pre-empted Polly Morland's book A Fortunate Woman: The Story of a Country Doctor, securing rights in a six-figure deal.
Georgina Morley, publishing director, acquired UK and Commonwealth print, digital and audio rights for the book from Patrick Walsh at the PEW Literary Agency.
The book explores the true life story of a GP working in a rural valley, and the influence of John Berger's account, A Fortunate Man, on the GP's life.
The synopsis explains: "A Fortunate Woman is the beautifully rendered true story of a country GP, Dr Rebecca Summer. Rebecca is a family doctor working in a remote rural valley: she knows her patients, she knows their lives inside and out, and knows their community.
"The project began when Polly Morland, clearing her mother’s house, found a battered paperback which had fallen down the back of a bookshelf. Opening it, she was astonished to see a photograph which she immediately recognised as the valley in which she lives. That paperback was John Berger’s A Fortunate Man, a masterpiece first published in 1967, observing the life of a country doctor working in the same valley more than half a century earlier.
"As Morland then dug further into the story, a series of events led her to Rebecca Summer — a remarkable doctor who had been inspired to follow a medical career by reading the very same book as a teenager."
Morland is an author and documentary maker. Her first widely-acclaimed book, The Society of Timid Souls, or How To Be Brave (2013) won a RSL/Jerwood Award, was longlisted for the Guardian First Book Award and was a Sunday Times Book of the Year. She is also the author of Risk Wise. Nine Everyday Adventures and Metamorphosis: How and Why We Change.
Commenting on the publication of A Fortunate Woman, she said: "I have always felt that a book finds its author to a certain extent. The chance discovery of that dusty paperback, untouched for nearly 50 years, and more than 100 miles from home, sparked an extraordinary chain of events for me. It led me back to look afresh at a place and a community I love. Above all, it introduced me to a remarkable woman, whose story, timeless and yet so current, sheds new light on what it means to be a doctor. Now it has also led to Georgina Morley and her wonderful colleagues at Picador. At so many levels, it feels as if this book were meant to be."
Morley added: "When Polly’s proposal hit my inbox one Wednesday morning, I knew within minutes that this would be a very special book. We met that evening, over Zoom, which only heightened our love for this project. Having read and admired Berger’s book years ago, the idea of bringing readers the story of a woman GP in the same valley, working in today’s complex and challenging world, was irresistible. By Friday evening we had fought off warring rival pre-empts and the book was ours. Picador is a fortunate publisher indeed to be working with Polly Morland on what will be the most extraordinary book."
Picador will publish the book in the spring of 2022.