Matt Phillips, Publishing Director at Bonnier Books UK, has acquired world rights from David Riding at MBA Literary Agents and Sam Graham of Red Monkey Collective. Break Point will be published under the Blink imprint in May 2019.
Ollie Ollerton began his military career at the age of 18 when he joined the Royal Marine Commandos and toured operationally in Northern Ireland and Iraq in Operation Desert Storm.
After passing SAS selection, Ollerton joined the Special Boat Service (SBS) where he was promoted to team leader. As one of the Directing Staff on Channel 4’s hit TV show, SAS: Who Dares Wins, Ollerton has lifted the lid on this famously secret fighting force as he puts civilians through their elite training paces.
In Break Point, Ollerton takes us on his remarkable journey from the age of ten when he survived a mauling from a 130lb chimpanzee in a freak life-or-death incident, to passing the infamously gruelling SAS selection process with a busted ankle and the finish-line nowhere in sight, to raiding boats laden with drugs and hardened criminals under the cover of darkness. Throughout Ollerton focuses on ‘break points’ – moments in life when people refuse to accept their self-imposed limits and go beyond what they think they are capable of.
Readers will come for the high-octane adventure, but they will press it into the hands of their friends and give it to their loved ones because of the humanity of Ollie’s experiences, the honesty of the retelling and the messages within
Matt Phillips, Publishing Director, Blink
Ollie Ollerton said: ‘Special Forces soldiers aren’t supermen. We’re just ordinary people, with the same frailties and vulnerabilities as everyone else. We can’t see through walls, bullets don’t bounce off us and we don’t hit the target with every shot. But ordinary people can achieve the extraordinary. I am delighted to be joining the team at Blink and I hope that my story can help encourage others to feel that anything is possible.’
Matt Phillips said: ‘I am immensely proud to be publishing Ollie Ollerton’s incredible story. Readers will come for the high-octane adventure, but they will press it into the hands of their friends and give it to their loved ones because of the humanity of Ollie’s experiences, the honesty of the retelling and the messages within – that you can overcome your doubts and your fears, that inside you is the potential for extraordinary achievement and, above all, that you only find out who you really are when it matters most.’
