I write women in dystopia. I live in the North West of the UK and I also write psychological thrillers and women’s fiction – I am currently writing my 9th book. I love books set in the near future and in alternate dystopian worlds – I recently discussed this with my brother and we settled on ‘mind-bending’ as our go-to for this genre. I have a PhD in narrative and storytelling and my mission as a writer was to write fiction about issues that affect women, and what better way than to place them in hypothetical but possible situations to explore that reality?
When I first read The Handmaid’s Tale years ago, it made a huge impression on me. As well as being a writer I am a Health Psychologist specializing in women’s reproductive health, and this book to me on so many levels. Offred’s life is all our worst fears as women and this novel truly brought another dimension of the world and what people are capable of into view. I was lucky enough to meet Margaret Atwood and chat about how she wrote the book and imagined the world, which I hope informs my own work. Everyone should read this book.
** THE SUNDAY TIMES NO. 1 BESTSELLER ** **A BBC BETWEEN COVERS BIG JUBILEE READ**
Go back to where it all began with the dystopian novel behind the award-winning TV series.
'As relevant today as it was when Atwood wrote it' Guardian
I believe in the resistance as I believe there can be no light without shadow; or rather, no shadow unless there is also light.
Offred is a Handmaid in The Republic of Gilead, a religious totalitarian state in what was formerly known as the United States. She is placed in the household of The Commander, Fred Waterford -…
I read The End of Men recently during the pandemic. Without giving the plot away, this book is about a pandemic written before the actual pandemic. The thing I love about this book is the deep feelings it invoked. It is written from many viewpoints and I really cared about the characters – if a book can resonate so deeply that it makes you wonder how your life would be in the same circumstances, the author has succeeded. The women in the book face an almost unimaginable struggle and I rooted for them all the way.
GLASGOW, 2025. Dr Amanda Maclean is called to treat a young man with a mild fever. Within three hours he dies. The mysterious illness sweeps through the…
Return to Hope Creek is a second-chance rural romance set in Australia.
Stella Simpson's career and engagement are over. She returns to the rural community of Hope Creek to heal, unaware her high school and college sweetheart, Mitchell Scott, has also moved back to town to do some healing of…
I picked this book up when it won the Orange Prize for Women’s fiction. The premise is that teenage girls suddenly realize they have an electrical power that they use to tame men. We soon start to see how they use it and pass it on to other women, and I loved how it grew into a ‘good vs evil’ exploration. I found the novel a thought experiment on what would happen if power dynamics were reversed. I loved it and read it over a weekend.
WINNER OF THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION ONE OF BARACK OBAMA'S BEST BOOKS OF 2017
'Electrifying' Margaret Atwood
'A big, page-turning, thought-provoking thriller' Guardian
----------------------------------
All over the world women are discovering they have the power. With a flick of the fingers they can inflict terrible pain - even death. Suddenly, every man on the planet finds they've lost control.
The Day of the Girls has arrived - but where will it end?
----------------------------------
'The Hunger Games crossed with The Handmaid's Tale' Cosmopolitan
'I loved it; it was visceral, provocative and curiously pertinent . . . The story has stayed…
Station Eleven was a strange one for me. I hadn’t been reading for a while due to my day job and childcare issues and this was the first book I picked up when I finally had time to myself. The post-apocalyptic setting was perfect to draw me into a world where scattered humanity must find community. I loved Kirsten as a character and how details she was written, I felt like I knew her. This was one of those books that I was sad to finish and missed the characters.
'Best novel. The big one . . . stands above all the others' - George R.R. Martin, author of Game of Thrones
Now an HBO Max original TV series
The New York Times Bestseller Winner of the Arthur C. Clarke Award Longlisted for the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction National Book Awards Finalist PEN/Faulkner Award Finalist
What was lost in the collapse: almost everything, almost everyone, but there is still such beauty.
One snowy night in Toronto famous actor Arthur Leander dies on stage whilst performing the role of a lifetime. That same evening a deadly virus touches down in…
What's the point of having it all when you have no one to share it with?
Brandon Miller has everything—except a commitment from the woman he loves. Angela Cooper has deep scars from a previous marriage. She's not interested in a do-over with Brandon or anyone.
I love Scarlett Thomas’ writing and The End of Mr. Y was my first read of hers. I fell in love with this book because it was about a book, and a cursed book at that. The exquisite writing took me on a journey of uncertainty and time travel with Ariel and I have yet to find another book like it – it is a unique book that has many layers and as well as focusing on the speculative aspect, it is suspenseful and beautifully descriptive. Five stars from me and it made me want to read more from this author.
If you knew a book was cursed, would you still read it?
When Ariel Manto uncovers a copy of The End of Mr. Y in a second-hand bookshop, she can't believe her eyes. She knows enough about its author, the outlandish Victorian scientist Thomas Lumas, to know that copies are exceedingly rare. And, some say, cursed.
With Mr. Y under her arm, Ariel finds herself thrust into a thrilling adventure of love, sex, death and time-travel.
Teenager Katrina Williams finds herself pregnant and on the wrong side of social services. She soon realises that something sinister is going on in the depths of the sink estates. Then she finds out about SmartYellow™.
Exploring themes of social inequity and scientific responsibility, J.A. Christy's first speculative fiction novel leads Katrina to understand how probability, hope, and empathy play a huge part in the flow of life and are absent in the stagnation of mere survival. SmartYellow™ offers a worryingly plausible and chilling glimpse into an alternate Nineties Britain. SmartYellow™ was nominated for the Arthur C Clark in 2016.
The Road from Belhaven is set in 1880s Scotland. Growing up in the care of her grandparents on Belhaven Farm, Lizzie Craig discovers as a small girl that she can see the future. But she soon realises that she must keep her gift a secret. While she can sometimes glimpse…
When Jennifer Shea married Russel Redmond, they made a decision to spend their honeymoon at sea, sailing in Mexico. The voyage tested their new relationship, not just through rocky waters and unexpected weather, but in all the ways that living on a twenty-six-foot sailboat make one reconsider what's truly important.…
