Last month, Waterstones said the publication date for the book had changed and that the retailer had not set a new one, but it has now emerged it will never hit the shelves
Sarah Ferguson’s new kids book is to be pulped after she was stripped of her royal titles, it has emerged. Some 10,000 copies of “Flora and Fern: Kindness Along The Way” are said to be on their way “to the recycling centre”.
It was initially claimed the book had been delayed in the wake of fresh revelations over Fergie – former Duchess of York – and her ex-husband Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. The £12.99 picture book was set to be published on October 9, then November 19.
But a source said: “It’s not been delayed, it’s being pulped. It’s an acknowledgement of the inevitable. No one is going to want to buy it.”
In-person signings and talks in bookshops by Sarah were also pulled. One bookshop had planned a meet and greet with the ex-royal and has now been forced to refund tickets to the public. They told the Daily Mail: “It’s a mess. The book is unsalvageable.”
Industry bible The Bookseller also reported Fergie’s new book has been “pulled from sale days before publication”. It previously reported publishing director Sophia Whitfield had bought world rights to Flora and Fern from Joe Sisto at Planet Partners.
The book, due to be illustrated by Denise Hughes, had been pitched as a message of “kindness and community at its heart” that follows Flora and Fern as they set out on an adventure, learning about kindness along the way.
Esteemed author Fergie’s first foray into children’s literature came in 1994 when she penned Budgie the Little Helicopter. She later branched out to personal memoirs and romantic adult fiction and has published more than 50 titles in all.
But she and ex-hubby Ordinary Andy have been rocked by scandals in recent years, most notably their connection with Jeffrey Epstein. It emerged last month that she wrote to Epstein in jail after publicly distancing herself from the convicted paedophile.
She was dropped by numerous charities, including the Teenage Cancer Trust, and also lost her title of Sarah, Duchess of York when the King stripped his brother of his own remaining titles, leaving him for the first time as plain Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.
And she also faces being made homeless when she and Andrew part ways early in the New Year after being forced out of their current Royal Lodge home in Windsor. She is not moving with him to a pad on the Royal Family’s Sandringham Estate in Norfolk.
It was last week claimed a guest suite is being prepared for her at a £3.6million villa in Portugal owned by daughter Princess Eugenie and her husband Jack Brooksbank.
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