Author Information:

MY FOURTH NOVEL - MADAME BUROVA - IS PUBLISHED ON 1ST APRIL 2021. THE KEEPER OF LOST THINGS, THE WISDOM OF SALLY RED SHOES AND QUEENIE MALONE'S PARADISE HOTEL - ARE OUT NOW IN PAPERBACK, EBOOK AND AUDIO. I was brought up in a house full of books, and grew up with an unsurprising passion for reading and writing. I also loved (and still do) dogs and ponies, seaside piers (particularly the Palace Pier in Brighton) snow globes and cemeteries. And potatoes. So of course, I was going to be a vet, show jumper, or gravedigger. Or potato farmer. Or maybe a writer... I studied English and Drama at Goldsmiths College, University of London where I hennaed my hair, wore dungarees, had aspirations to be the fourth member of Bananarama and generally had an amazing time. And then I got a proper job. For ten years I had a successful if uninspiring career in local government before a car accident left me unable to work full-time and was the kick up the butt I needed to start writing seriously. It was all going well, but then in 2012 I got cancer, which was bloody inconvenient but precipitated an exciting hair journey from bald to a peroxide blonde Annie Lennox crop. When chemo kept me up all night I passed the time writing and the eventual result was THE KEEPER OF LOST THINGS, my bestselling debut novel, which was a Richard and Judy Book Club pick. Since then I have had two further novels published, THE WISDOM OF SALLY RED SHOES and QUEENIE MALONE'S PARADISE HOTEL and for my fourth, MADAME BUROVA, I learnt to read Tarot cards and developed a hankering for a traditional vardo and pony. I live in a chaotic Victorian house with an assortment of rescue dogs and my long-suffering husband. I am a magpie; always collecting treasures (or 'junk' depending on your point of view), a huge John Betjeman fan and I would very much like a full-size galloping horses carousel in my back garden.