I’m a novelist and short fiction writer. I studied sculpture at Winchester School of Art and didn’t begin writing fiction until I was 40, after many years working as a co-director of a marketing agency. I have a Masters (distinction) in Creative and Critical Writing from The University of Winchester. I live near Winchester, England with my husband and a cat called Alan, and I have two grown-up children.

My five published novels are: The Memory of Animals, (2023);  Unsettled Ground (2021) (which won the Costa Novel Award 2021, and was shortlisted for the 2021 Women’s Prize for Fiction); Bitter Orange (2019) (longlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award); Swimming Lessons (2017) (shortlisted for the Encore Prize for second novels, and Livre de Poche Prize in France); and Our Endless Numbered Days (2015) (winner of the 2015 Desmond Elliott Prize for debut fiction). They have been translated into more than twenty languages.

People say that the thing that brings them all together is that none of them are alike. But they are all literary fiction with strong stories. Some of them are dark, some of them are darker than others.

My sixth novel, Hunger and Thirst will be published in May 2026 in the UK, and June 2026 in the US and Canada.

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My short stories have been published in many literary journals and shortlisted in prizes. Baker, Emily and Me, won the 2014 BBC Opening Lines competition (read it here), and my story, A Quiet Tidy Man, won the Royal Academy and Pin Drop short story award 2016, (Listen to Juliet Stevenson reading it), and it has been included in the Pin Drop / Simon & Schuster anthology: A Short Affair. My most recent story, Another Land Beneath was published in the 2025 collection, Unquiet Guests.

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I am represented by Jane Finigan from Lutyens & Rubinstein.

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I also teach writing on various short courses. I have taught fiction at Arvon, short story writing at Winchester Writer’s Festival, and at Jane Austen’s House Museum, and flash fiction at The End of the Road Festival. Get in touch if you’d like me to teach a writing course. Forthcoming courses can be found on my events page.

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And finally, I have judged many competitions including the Bridport Novel Prize, ALCS Tom-Gallon Trust Award, Jane Austen 200, Rye Literature Festival, Reflex Fiction Flash Fiction, the Raymond Carver short story contest, and Faversham Short Story competition. Get in touch if you’d like to discuss me judging your fiction writing competition.

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Buy my books

Buy my books from Bookshop.org in the UK

Buy my books from Bookshop.org in the US

Buy my books from Indigo in Canada