About
I live in Bath with my husband and two children. I grew up in Sussex before moving to London in my twenties where I lived for ten years. After I married, I spent a further ten years living in a village outside Winchester until we finally moved to the most magical city on earth.
I was 46 when I signed my first publishing deal, and 47 when I my first book was published. Never let anyone tell you that you’re too old.
My debut novel, The Other Side of Mrs Wood, was published in June 2023 around the world by 4th Estate, and Harper Collins in the US and North America.
Mrs Wood was not, of course, the first book I ever produced. I’ve been writing since I was very small and have folders and folders full of stories which reflect my changing interests over the ensuing 40 years – from horses, to mystery lockets, to boys, to men, to a lot more men, to the delight of an early night, to the intriguing parlours of middle-aged Victorian ladies. As an adult, I have written probably five or six full length novels of varying degrees of awfulness, and I was 46 when I finally signed my first publishing deal.
As a graduate of the Curtis Brown Creative Six Month Novel course (2014) and The Novelry’s 90 Day Novel, and having led workshops for lots of different groups, I am a huge advocate of writing courses: along with essential skills, confidence and crits, they’ve introduced me to my writing crew who keep me going through those tough days which are so much more common than you’d ever believe.
I’m represented by Lucy Morris at Curtis Brown. Lucy took me on after I came second in the 2019 Curtis Brown First Book Award with a very early partial draft of Mrs Wood and she is my leading cheerleader as I fight in the trenches with a very unruly Book 2.
I have a Masters (with Distinction, tvm) in Victorian Studies from Birkbeck, University of London. I’ve always been fascinated by social history, but found myself repeatedly drawn to Victorian woman’s experience during my Masters including some spectacularly granular studies in areas such as contraception, motherhood, secularisation and fetishisation.
After many years of tooling around with various genres, I started to draw on my greedy obsession with the historical and found my niche. My intention was never to write historical fiction, per se, but to write about women of a different time doing relatable things. I’m passionate about de-homogenising these women; giving them individual voices so that we understand the nuances of their experience and are able to bridge the distance between our surprisingly similar concerns but very different worlds in which we navigate.
The Other Side of Mrs Wood explores mediumship in 1870s London and is inspired by a true story. In terms of women making their own livings within a deeply patriarchal society, mediumship was one of the only professional fields that was considered professional and, as well as offering financial gains, it also gave these women the opportunity to rise through social ranks. The majority of successful mediums were women, and while their star was still in the ascendent, they were able to support themselves, whilst moving freely about society without the hassle of a husband.
I’m currently finishing my second book which also features strong yet ordinary women navigating life with Victorian pressures that still feel prescient today. With a touch of wry humour and plenty of fun characters, of course.