Michaella McCollum’s memoir, You’ll Never See Daylight Again, is set to be published next month.
Bonnier imprint John Blake will release the autobiography on October 31.
The description for the book reads:
“The gritty prison memoir of Michaella McCollum, one half of the infamous ‘Peru Two’, imprisoned in a Peruvian jail for attempting to smuggle 11kg of cocaine from Peru to Madrid in August 2013.
“She was just a regular girl, spending the summer working at a bar in Ibiza, until she was approached by a man who asked her if she’d like to make some quick, easy money…and it would change her life forever.
“This is the truth of her time in prison, told through her own diaries and letters to her mother, family and friends, recounting tales of vicious guards, psychotic inmates and horrendous prison conditions.
“A brilliantly affecting tale of a naïve young girl who starts out in the Ibiza party scene and comes of age in the dark heart of Peru, before finally emerging into the sun a stronger, more confident, mature young woman.”
In a statement to The Bookseller, McCollum explained why she thought it was important that she share her story.
She said:
“I want you all to know what truly happened to me – the trauma and near-death conditions I lived in for nearly three years.
“Some people think I got off lightly, but I hope my story will show how one bad choice turned my life upside down and if it stops just one person making the same choice, I will be happy I have shared it.”
McCollum was sentenced to six years in a Peruvian jail in December 2013 after admitting to smuggling 11kg of cocaine into the country alongside Melissa Reid.
She served just over two years in jail before she released on parole in March of 2016, but she initially has to stay in Peru.
She carried out volunteer work until August the same year, when she was permitted to fly back to Belfast.
