Frances is the author of three historical novels, The Smallest Man, That Bonesetter Woman and The Lost Passenger. She grew up in Forest Gate, East London and studied English at King’s College, Cambridge, realising too late that the course would require more than lying around reading novels for three years. After snatching a degree from the jaws of laziness, she became a journalist, writing for magazines including Prima, Good Housekeeping and Woman’s Weekly, and later branched out into copywriting, producing words for everything from Waitrose pizza packaging to the Easyjet in-flight brochure.

Frances wanted to be a writer since she was about six, but she has a gift for procrastination and her first novel, The Smallest Man, was published when she was 57. It’s inspired by the true story of Jeffrey Hudson, a boy with dwarfism who was given to Queen Henrietta Maria, wife of Charles I, as a sort of human pet, but became a loyal and trusted friend through the turbulent years of the English Civil War. It’s been called ‘the feelgood historical novel of the year.’

Her second novel, That Bonesetter Woman, was also inspired by a real historical character: Crazy Sally Mapp, who defied convention to become a successful bonesetter in Georgian London. Sally’s fictional counterpart in the novel, Endurance Proudfoot, shares some of her adventures, and has a few more of her own.

Frances’ latest novel is The Lost Passenger, and is set in Edwardian England, the tenements of New York – and on board the Titanic. It’s due to be published in February 2025.

Frances lives in Hove, with her husband and three Tonkinese cats.