EXCLUSIVE: Captain Tom's daughter's book falls 145,000 places in sales charts within a week
Buyers of Hannah Ingram-Moore's self-published 144-page "Grief: Public Face, Private Loss" have not been impressed and have left the tome an overall 2.1 out of 5 rating on Amazon
The daughter of Covid hero Captain Sir Tom Moore has suffered a fresh blow – her new book about grief has plunged 145,000 places in sales charts in less than a week. Hannah Ingram-Moore, 54, unveiled the £8.99 self-help tome on Amazon last week and it went straight into the selling giant’s rankings at a lowly 21,000. But after it was mauled by readers, it has since dropped to around 166,000 in the Amazon rankings.
In the book she tells readers: “Losing my mother to a degenerative brain disease was a slow and agonising journey that taught me the depths of personal sorrow. Later, grieving the loss of my father, Captain Sir Tom, a beacon of hope to millions during the global pandemic of 2020, came with its own unique challenges.
"Balancing the world’s outpouring of gratitude for his legacy with my private grief was a profound experience that shaped the insights shared in these pages.”
But buyers of the 144-page "Grief: Public Face, Private Loss" have not been impressed and have left the tome an overall 2.1 out of 5 rating on Amazon. A reader penned: “Awful. Another excuse to make money. Could barely tolerate a few pages before abandoning it. Stick to writing books about retrospective planning and walking for leisure.”
Maggiemay wrote: “I belted through this on my Kindle tonight. In summary, it’s an anecdotal account of the loss of Hannah’s parents and how that impacted her. There is nothing new here. I don’t think writing this was a good idea at all.
“It will only heap more unwelcome criticism on someone who would be well advised to stay out of the public eye and keep quiet for a while at least. There are so many excellent books on grief out there and this in my opinion isn’t one of them. I cannot imagine it helping anyone.”
Mrs Ingram-Moore and her husband Colin, 67, faced a backlash over their handling of the Captain Tom Foundation. The Charity Commission criticised the couple for pocketing money from his books for themselves rather than it going to charity.
But Mrs Ingram-Moore has said the decision almost "derailed" the family's life but claimed "nothing dishonest" happened. Despite the furore, she released a book about coping with death. She self-published her work "Grief: Public Face, Private Loss"..
It came after Mrs Ingram Moore was also ordered to demolish a luxury spa that had been built in the grounds of their home in Marston Moretaine, Beds., using the Captain Tom Foundation charity name. Captain Tom – knighted before his death - raised nearly £39 million for NHS charities by completing 100 lockdown laps of the family’s garden using a walking aid.
Publishers Penguin then agreed to pay a £1.4 million advance to the Ingram-Moore’s private company for Captain Tom’s memoir on the understanding a contribution would be made to charity. In the prologue to Tomorrow Will Be a Good Day, Capt Tom – who died in 2021 aged 100 – wrote: “I have also been given the chance to raise even more money for the charitable foundation established in my name.”
Mrs Ingram-Moore later defended the decision to keep profits from his books, which also included Life Lessons and One Hundred Steps. Most of the money from them went into the family company, Club Nook. Mrs Ingram-Moore told the BBC she was sorry if the public felt misled. She said: "I genuinely am. But there was never any attempt to mislead and if there was any misleading it wasn't our doing."