my books.
Below, details of my completed novels, as well as what I’m working on.
Books
What I'm writing.
One finished novel with agents, one about to go out on submission, and a third that’s about half-way there. Below is where each of them currently stands.
Photo by Jr Korpa
Semblance
A literary suspense novel · complete at 111,000 words
SEMBLANCE is a richly atmospheric split-timeline novel for fans of Tana French, Lucy Atkins and Sally Hinchcliffe – imagine the madness of The Days of Abandonment with a hook like in The Night She Disappeared.
After twelve bleak years of marriage, fantasies are Louise Hopper’s lifeblood. The London socialite dreams of tall, dark strangers who come to whisk her away – and so, when her tech billionaire husband is abducted and the kidnapper’s ransom isn’t money, but her undivided attention, she believes her knight in shining armour has arrived at last.
While rookie detectives Robina and Ben hunt for the elusive abductor, a twisted romance unfolds between him and Louise. Her obsession grows as he turns murderous, bringing media attention for the case to a boiling point. When, one abduction and two deaths down, the police still struggle to connect the dots, the public begin to question their competence and Louise’s innocence: What has the woman who has locked herself in her mansion got to hide? And is the saviour she so feverishly awaits really what she’s bargained for?
Time is running out, and as the detectives rush to protect her, Louise faces a final reckoning with her past, her marriage, and an abductor who has been too close for comfort all along.
Status
Completed and currently on submission to literary agents. Representation and rights enquiries are welcome via the contact page.
In the editing trenches
Over in the Buildings Painted Pink and Minty Green
OVER IN THE BUILDINGS PAINTED PINK AND MINTY GREEN is an emotionally rich, short novel (complete at 50k words) that blends the eco-surrealism and familial disfunction of The Vegetarian with the warm sense of human connection in Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine.
At thirty-four, the singularly gifted Christine Wells has got a doctorate in astrophysics, a modern flat and a successful marriage. According to her calculations, she should be perfectly happy, and so should her husband, Matt – so when he unexpectedly embarks on a journey of self-realisation, expressing his wish to become a tree, she is stunned. He locks himself away for days, compiling detailed studies of his transformation, and Christine begins to worry about his sanity.
Like always, she confides in her sister Geri – her idol and best friend – who admits to finding Matt’s plan absurd. This causes Christine to spiral, questioning her role in his delusion. Why would anyone want to escape the life they’ve built together? Is there something fundamentally wrong with it? Is she good enough for him? Is she good enough for anyone, for the world, and most importantly, for Geri?
While her sister struggles to uphold her crumbling sense of identity, Geri, for the first time in forever, is high on life: She’s dating the woman of her dreams. But again and again, the pressing issue of her brother-in-law’s pursuit of a plant-like state interferes with her budding romance, until Geri finally – and perhaps fatally – choses herself: She shuts Christine out, just for two days, but during those two days, everything changes.
Matt is found dead in the nearby forest, and Christine was the only one who accompanied him there – but she has no recollection of what happened.
Photo by Marita Kavelashvili
Photo by Mohammad Alizade
Work in progress
One Question
Aura Denham is always hiding, always running from her dark and haunting past. To make ends meet and stay off the radar, she takes on odd jobs and switches identities like other people change clothes. One name, one address and occupation usually don’t last her longer than a few months, and then she must move on, perpetually leaving people and places behind.
Her newest disguise is that of a clairvoyant tarot reader who travels with a circus. One night, in the dead of winter, a distraught woman visits her tent to ask if her daughter is alive. Aura tells her yes, and gets unwillingly drawn into the biggest missing persons case of the decade. She is forced to collaborate with police in search of little Maisie Clare, and, suddenly in broad daylight, suddenly infamous across the nation as the spirit-medium in whom the missing girl’s mother places her last hope, she must reckon with the very demons she’s been hiding from.
40k words in, I’ve just reached the sweet middle of this and am currently immensely enjoying writing the dramatic turning point in the story.
What may come next
…a sequel to Semblance?
There's a standalone companion book to Semblance that exists, so far, only in the form of a handful of scenes I've written to explore the emotional aftermath of the first novel. It picks up after the death of a certain someone from the world of Semblance, and follows a selection of key characters along their journey of processing that death.
It is currently at about 30k words.