Growing up in Surrey, Clare always dreamed of being a writer. Instead she followed a career in IT, before moving to Norfolk for a quieter life. Now writing full time, she lives with her husband and the youngest of her six children. Weekends are spent researching for her historical dual timeline books amongst the local castles and monastic ruins, or visiting the nearby coast.
Carolyn O’Brien
Carolyn O’Brien was born in Manchester. She studied English at Cambridge University before qualifying as a solicitor. She now works part-time as a consultant lawyer as well as writing historical fiction. Her writing has a strong sense of the north-west of England and its radical past, as illustrated by her first novel, THE SONG OF PETERLOO which was published to coincide with the bicentenary of the Peterloo Massacre. Her second novel is ROSE & RENZO, to be published in May 2026, a 1930s love story set in the ‘Little Italy’ district of Manchester against the backdrop of rising fascism.
Carolyn lives near Manchester with her family.
Beth Underdown
Beth Underdown was born in Rochdale in 1987. She studied at the University of York and then the University of Manchester, where she is now a Lecturer in Creative Writing.
The Witchfinder’s Sister is her debut novel, and is based on the life of the 1640s witch finder Matthew Hopkins.
She first came across him while reading a book about seventeenth-century midwifery. As you do.
Anna Mazzola
Anna is the award-winning and bestselling author of five Gothic historical novels. Her debut novel, The Unseeing, won an Edgar Allan Poe award. Her third novel, The Clockwork Girl, set in 18th century Paris, was shortlisted for two CWA daggers and a Fingerprint Award and was nominated for the Dublin Literary award. Her fourth novel, The House of Whispers, a ghost story set in Fascist Italy, is a Sunday Times historical fiction book of the year for 2023. Her next novel, The Book of Secrets, will be published in March 2024 and is based on a real prosecution in Rome in the 17th century. Her first modern thriller will be published in 2024 under the name Anna Sharpe.
She is also a human rights and criminal justice solicitor and provides training to other advocates. She lives in Camberwell, South London, with one husband, two children, a cat and a snake.
Find Anna online at:
https://www.facebook.com/AnnaMazzolaWriter/
https://www.instagram.com/annamazzolawriter/
Julie Anderson
Julie Anderson writes historical crime fiction. Her latest series is set in south London immediately post World War Two, in Clapham where she lives. The first book, ‘The Midnight Man‘ focuses on events in and around the South London Hospital for Women and Children, a real and highly unusual hospital run by women for women. The second ‘A Death in the Afternoon‘ is set two years later. The Welfare State is being put in place and the HMS Empire Windrush arrives at Tilbury. The trilogy, including the third book in the series ‘Festival Days’, uses real locations and explores the changes in British society post-war, with particular emphasis on the role of women. They are also page-turning crime thrillers, published by Hobeck Books.
Historical writing was her first love and in 2016 ‘Reconquista‘ her adventure story for young teenagers set in 13th century Al Andalus, now part of modern Spain, was listed for the Mslexia Children’s Book of the Year 2016. ‘The Silver Rings‘, its sequel was published two years later. Julie lives for part of the year in Jerez de la Frontera in southern Spain, where both books are set.
In addition Julie has written a contemporary trilogy of political thrillers set in Whitehall and Westminster, including ‘Plague‘, ‘Oracle’ and ‘Opera‘ which was listed for the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger 2023. Julie is Chair of Trustees of the charity responsible for delivering the annual Clapham Book Festival, a celebration of books and reading in south London. She also reviews for Time & Leisure magazine on books and the arts. Quite a lot of her life centres on books and bookish pursuits. This year, however, she has been historical consultant for St Paul’s Opera’s production of Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore, set in the South London Hospital.
Emma Cowing
Emma Cowing is an award-winning journalist and writer. Her debut novel, The Show Woman, about the first all-female circus act, was published in May 2025 by Hodder & Stoughton.
Emma is a former Feature Writer of the Year at the Scottish Press Awards, and two-time Interviewer of the Year. She holds an Ochberg Fellowship in Journalism and Trauma at Columbia Journalism School in New York, for her work covering the war in Afghanistan, and its aftermath.
She lives in Glasgow with her husband, Jonathan, and their enormously fluffy cat, Moses.