COMEDIAN Janey Godley is to publish her debut novel this summer and in a poignant case of fiction imitating real life, the book’s plot will mirror her own recent cancer diagnosis.

Set in Glasgow between 2019 and 1976, Nothing Left Unsaid opens with a woman summoning her family to hospital as she reaches the end of a battle with cancer.

According to the announcement by publishers Hodder & Stoughton, the lead character Senga "sends her eldest daughter to read her diary, determined to share a secret that she’s been holding on to for 40 years, and revealing the story of five women determined to survive against the odds."

The Herald: Comedian Janey Godley‘s debut novel Nothing Left Unsaid will be published on May 12Comedian Janey Godley‘s debut novel Nothing Left Unsaid will be published on May 12

Godley announced she had been diagnosed with ovarian cancer in November. The novel, billed as a dual timeframe mystery, will be published on May 12.

She said: “This book saved my life during lockdown and gave me focus to write a love letter to all those women I grew up with in Glasgow.

“Writing in lockdown was hard and my brain kept freezing, but I really hope that I can transport people back to Glasgow in the 70s which wasn’t all bad. This is my first novel and I hope you all enjoy it.”

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Rowena Webb from Hodder & Stoughton said: “I am hugely proud to be publishing Janey Godley’s brilliant fiction debut. Janey is the rarest of writers who can make you laugh out loud as well as move you to tears.

“Her characters in the 70s Glasgow they inhabit are so vividly real, just as you laugh your heart breaks for them too. We look forward to bringing her all success.”