After Covid secrets storm, Nicola’s £300,000 ‘tell-all’ memoir goes on sale 18 months early – at £28 a pop
IT is a political memoir defined not just by the cataclysmic downfall of its subject, but also by the controversy it has courted before it even goes to print.
Nicola Sturgeon’s as yet untitled chronicles have been criticised by families of coronavirus victims who question how she could write a book about the past three decades – yet fail to produce any pandemic diaries for the UK Covid-19 Inquiry.
But where there is a will, there is clearly a way. For The Mail on Sunday can reveal the former First Minister’s autobiography is now available to pre-order – at a cost of £28 a copy.
Despite an official release date of August 14, 2025, diehard fans can reserve hardback versions more than a year in advance, probably before the final chapter has even been written. Shops offering the pre-order option on Ms Sturgeon’s life story include Amazon, Blackwell’s, Foyles, Waterstones and WHSmith.
Readers are told to expect ‘a revealing memoir from one of Britain’s most significant political leaders of recent times’ which will detail her interactions ‘with a range of notable figures, giving her unique in-the-room perspective on the most tumultuous era in modern Scottish and British politics.
‘She will cover the important events of her time, including the SNP’s election to government, the independence referendum, Brexit, Covid and much more.’ Following her resignation announcement on February 15 last year, parliamentary records show she spends up to 15 hours a week writing her memoirs after bagging a £300,000 deal, including a £75,000 advance, with publishing house Pan Macmillan.
Her publishing director is Mike Harpley, who helped Ms Sturgeon’s role model, former New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern, write her book. It is yet to be seen if Ms Sturgeon will detail the SNP’s implosion amid the Operation Branchform fraud probe.
Whatever the content, she has faced fierce criticism for writing a book based on her experiences in high office, despite not producing any diaries for the UK Covid-19 Inquiry.
The Scottish Covid Bereaved group has written to First Minister Humza Yousaf demanding an explanation.
Its lawyer Aamer Anwar said: ‘It is difficult to understand how Ms Sturgeon can provide an accurate account, several years removed, of being in the room, who was present, and how decisions were arrived at without having any contemporaneous notes to assist her.’