Hester Musson studied at Bristol University and the RCS in Glasgow. She worked as an actress and autocue operator in London before writing full time and now lives in Scotland.

Her debut novel The Beholders was pre-empted by Katie Bowden at 4th Estate. It tells the story of Harriet, a young maid newly employed at a grand country house in the 1870s, who finds herself in thrall to her entrancing yet erratic mistress and the much-lauded yet strangely absent master of the household. It was published in January 2024, becoming a Times bestseller, a Sunday Times historical fiction book of the month and was shortlisted for the HWA Debut Crown Prize.

Hester’s second novel The Night Hag will be published by 4th Estate early in 2026.