I write fiction and non-fiction, and though I range widely, much of my work is influenced by my interest in how people live in the natural world.

Starling, Fairlight Books, 2022

My debut novel tells the story of a young woman, Starling. She and her mum can survive anything – Starling has always lived in a van on the road and is tough, practical and radical  – but when her mother leaves her, Starling has to find a new way to live without her. Can she find a community after so many years of living without other people?

River Time, due from September Publishing, 2028

River Time is about our human connection to rivers through time, and our growing disconnection today – it explores the way we live day-to-day with rivers and always have, how we depend on them, our fear and love of them, our rituals, myths, movement, histories and changing understanding. My own journey down the river Medway runs through the book: my Dad was the river engineer, I lived beside it in my 20s, got together with my husband paddling its waters, dreamed and swam, and almost drowned, and lost touch with it with as my life became complicated with children, work, family and chronic illness. In the book I spend two years exploring the Medway from source to sea, and travel to meet other rivers and river people across the country, gathering stories of lost treasure, ancient crossings, buried waters and campaigners who just won’t give up. I become a citizen scientist and campaigner myself and finally begin to learn what really lives in the river. River Time follows my discovery of how I belong with my river, and how all of us have that connection deep within us.

Editing

I’m a trained editor, and worked as a Desk Editor and a Commissioning Editor at Hodder, then as a freelance. I love to get into structural edits and to help writers find clear ways to tell their stories.

Short fiction

I’ve been published in Salt’s Best British Short Stories 2011, Litro, Unbound and other literary journals.

Teaching

I run writing workshops for adults, most recently in short fiction and nature writing.