Sceptre pre-empts Jessie Thompson’s non-fiction debut, THE MAIN CHARACTER

What a joy to be working with Jessie Thompson on her first non-fiction book, The Main Character: How Five Great Women Turned Their Lives into Literature, which Charlotte Humphery at Sceptre is publishing next May.

Jessie won me over immediately with her pitch for the book, which started by quoting Deborah Levy’s The Cost of Living: ‘It had not occurred to him that she might not consider herself to be the minor character and him the major character.’ Ever since that moment it has been delightful to watch Jessie thinking on the page, constantly developing and interrogating her ideas, and also always being very funny.

When the going gets tough, humour is essential — and this book has so much of it, alongside its insights into the pain that women endure. Jessie always has something new to say, even if think you know a lot about her famous subjects already. And since the moment she first pitched to me, she has also managed to give birth to a child, cleverly synchronising book and baby. In terms of 'life writing' she knows whereof she speaks.

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Publicist: Louise Courtlouise.court@hodder.co.uk