Susan Stokes-Chapman was born in 1985 and grew up in the historic Georgian city of Lichfield, Staffordshire. She studied for four years at Aberystwyth University, graduating with a BA in Education & English Literature and an MA in Creative Writing.

Her debut novel Pandora was published in the UK in January 2022, becoming an instant #1 Sunday Times bestseller. A loose reinterpretation of the Greek myth Pandora’s Box set in Georgian London, it tells the story of aspiring jewellery artist Dora Blake and her encounter with an ancient vase that her tyrannical uncle is desperately keen to keep a secret. The novel was shortlisted for the Goldsboro Glass Bell Award 2023, and was also previously shortlisted for the Lucy Cavendish Fiction Prize and longlisted for the Bath Novel Award, both in 2020. Her second novel The Shadow Key – a Gothic tale set against the mysterious Welsh landscape of 1783 – was released in the UK in April 2024, and a festive short story collection in the vein of Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer was released in September 2025.