Sarah Ferguson Announces Young Adult Book Deal Inspired by Her Own Life: 'I Wanted to Share My Story'

The Duchess of York has signed a 22-book deal that will draw on her personal experiences growing up

Sarah Ferguson in London - April 2022. Photo: TheImageDirect.com

Sarah "Fergie" Ferguson better get a bigger library!

The Duchess of York has just signed a new 22-book deal with Australian publishers Serenity Press that includes three new young adult novels. And the 62-year-old grandmother says she will channel some of her own painful experiences from her teenage years when it comes to her writing.

"Young adults are perhaps the fastest-growing category of new fiction today. There's just something about adolescence — with all its incredible triumphs and heartbreaking failures— that makes it the perfect backdrop for powerful storytelling," Ferguson says in a statement.

Ferguson will draw from her personal struggles with mental health and eating disorders.

"I wanted to share my story of growing up with anxiety and an eating disorder, along with witnessing firsthand the effects of generational trauma. For me, it is always present and it all started at the loss of my mother," says Ferguson, whose mother, Susan Barrantes, died in 1998.

Her first young adult book, Demon's Land, will be released at the end of June. It comes after the success of her debut novel, Her Heart for a Compass, a coming-of-age story based on the tale of one of her ancestors, Lady Margaret Montagu Douglas Scott, which came out last August. A follow-up is scheduled for January 2023.

Princess Eugenie, Sarah Ferguson and Princess Beatrice. Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images

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Fergie, who is mom to Princess Eugenie, 32, and Princess Beatrice, 33, and grandmother to their children August and Sienna, has recently returned from an aid trip to Poland, where her non-profile Sarah's Trust has been helping refugees from neighboring Ukraine.

She added in her statement, "With my charity work, I'm in constant contact with young people and I have so much empathy for everything they have been through in the past two years. They are a capable and compassionate generation and their help as consultants on this book to make sure we captured the essence of what it's like to be a teenager today was instrumental in the writing of the book."

Sarah Ferguson with Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie. Chris Jackson/Getty

Co-author Worthington says that she "always enjoyed my brainstorming and writing sessions with the Duchess," praising her "warmth, professionalism."

She adds, "She went out of her way to articulate and clarify exactly what messages she wanted to share in the series based on her personal experiences and took the time to listen to mine. Her personalized approach challenged me to improve the manuscript and become the best support I could be to her vision. This series is a testament to her courage."