Boy from the Valleys by Luke Evans – out now!

Luke Evans is a beloved Welsh stage and screen actor who starred in The Hobbit, Beauty and the Beast, Fast & Furious and Dracula Untold, among many others.

I was so pleased to work on Luke’s memoir, Boy from the Valleys. It has a great mix of funny anecdotes and celeb mentions, but it’s also very poignant in places.

Luke grew up in a repressive religion and some parts of his story were heartbreaking to read. Memoir can often be a tricky genre – for writers, of course, but also for others who go on to work on the book.

As an editor, when you’re working in a very focused, detailed way on a story that’s extremely personal in nature, you feel a lot of empathy with the writer’s experiences. That’s not a bad thing, but it can leave you feeling wrung out after the text has been edited and the job is done.

Luckily, this isn’t at all a gloomy book, and there are plenty of lighthearted moments throughout!

Boy from the Valleys is out now, published by Ebury and available at most bookshops.