Oh, hello there!
Welcome to my world. I’m a writer and history nerd obsessed with the lives of women in the nineteenth century. This is my website where you’ll find lots of random pieces about writing, nineteenth-century women and my journey towards publication.
As a writer
I’m represented by the brilliant Lucy Morris at Curtis Brown. Lucy took me on after I came second in the 2019 Curtis Brown First Book Award with my current WIP.
I’ve been writing since I was 6 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. Over the past few years, though, I’ve found myself settling into the rich world of historical fiction.
I’m a graduate of the Curtis Brown Creative Novel Course (2014), and I’ve also completed and remain a member of the Novelry. 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.
As a history nerd
I have a Masters (with Distinction, ahem) in Victorian Studies from Birkbeck, UoL. I’ve always been fascinated by women’s history, but really honed that obsession during my Masters, going deep into nineteenth-century women and agency around contraception, motherhood, secularisation and fetishisation. I also completed an in-depth paper on how the poor moved around two streets in Clerkenwell, which was about as micro as you can get.
Where my writing and history nerd meet
After many years of tooling around with various genres, I started to draw on my nerdiness and … tadaaa! I’m currently working on my debut historical fiction novel (although not the first I’ve ever written) which explores the world of Mediumship in 1870s London and is inspired by a true story.
I’ve always found the idea of the Other Side fascinating – is it real, is it real? – and in terms of women living within a deeply patriarchal society, it was one of the only professional fields that offered the opportunity to make money and rise through social ranks. While their patrons were often men, a successful woman Medium could have a successful life, support herself and move freely about the city without the hassle of a husband. Kerching.
