Friday March 11 2011 by Padraic Flanagan THE true story of Madeleine McCann’s disappearance is set to be revealed in an explosive new book billed as the publishing sensation of the year.
Four years on, Kate McCann’s emotional first-person account of her daughter’s abduction from a Portuguese holiday apartment will give a huge boost to the depleted fund to find her.
The family doctor and her cardiologist husband Gerry have pledged to use every penny of the proceeds from the book, called simply Madeleine, to continue their desperate search for her.
The 384-page personal account – which will cost £20 – will be published on May 12 to coincide with Madeleine’s eighth birthday, underlining the book’s central message that her parents are convinced she is still alive.
Sources close to the McCanns say their belief that Madeleine McCann will eventually be found has been strengthened by the cases of American schoolgirl Jaycee Lee Dugard and Austrian Natascha Kampusch, abducted as children only to emerge alive years later.
My reason for writing is simple – to give an account of the truth |
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After signing the multi-million-pound publishing deal, Kate said: “My reason for writing is simple – to give an account of the truth.
“Publishing this book has been a very difficult decision and is one that we have taken after much deliberation and with a very heavy heart.
“However, in the last few months, with the depletion of Madeleine’s Fund, it is a decision that has virtually been taken out of our hands.
“Every penny we raise through its sales will be spent on our search for Madeleine. Nothing is more important to us than finding our little girl.”
The McCanns, both 42, from Rothley, Leicestershire, also hope the book may help the hunt for Madeleine in other ways.
Gerry McCann said: “Our hope is that it may prompt those who have relevant information – knowingly or not – to come forward and share it with our team. Somebody holds that key piece of the jigsaw.”
Publisher Transworld won the rights to the couple’s account of Madeleine’s baffling disappearance from the family’s holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in the Algarve on May 3, 2007.
Details of the deal have not been released but it reportedly includes a “substantial” advance and “enhanced royalties”, giving the fund a bigger share of profits from sales of the expected best-seller. Bill Scott-Kerr, publisher at Transworld, said: “It is an enormous privilege to be publishing this book.
“We are so pleased to be joining Kate and Gerry McCann in the Find Madeleine campaign.”
The official Portuguese inquiry into Madeleine’s disappearance formally ceased in July 2008 but private detectives employed by the McCanns have continued the search for the missing child.
Within weeks of Madeleine being snatched, just days before her fourth birthday as her parents dined with friends nearby, money from the public poured in to help fund the massive search for her.
But it emerged recently that the fund had dropped from its £2million peak to less than £300,000. The McCanns have also sent letters to public figures asking for money to help continue the hunt for their daughter.
Along with a conviction that their daughter is alive, the McCanns are angry they are not receiving more help from the authorities.
Kate admitted to misgivings about writing her own account, fearing the effects on Madeleine’s brother and sister, six-year-old twins Sean and Amelie.
“This decision has not been an easy one,” she said.
“Many factors needed to be given thorough and careful consideration, not least the impact of such a book on the lives of our three children.”
Read more:
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/233879/Kate-McCann-I-want-to-give-an-account-of-the-truth-on-Madeleine-Kate-McCann-I-want-to-give-an-account-of-the-truth-on-Madeleine-#ixzz1GH7GM9VQ
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