Ex comedy agent Hannah Begbie has signed a book deal with HarperFiction.

Her first book will be Mother, her novel exploring the identities women “juggle” throughout life, inspired by her son’s cystic fibrosis. It will be published in 2018.

The novel follows Cath after she discovers her newborn daughter, Mia, has a deadly illness. Cath’s despair takes her to a parental support group where she meets a father in a similar situation, the “dangerously attractive” Richard who promises a cure for their children. As Cath falls headlong into their affair, she must question her many identities – woman, wife, mother, lover – and which must take precedence.

Begbie worked at top agency United Agents for 15 years. She said: “The idea for the story began with the painful experience of having my newborn son diagnosed with cystic fibrosis. However, as I developed the story into fiction, the scope of the novel broadened to explore themes of identity and motherhood, adultery, grief and redemption achieved at a high price.”