About

I am a writer living in Edinburgh, Scotland. I like to write about what I call the ‘murderous’ side of family life – the dark, the quirky and the strange.

My debut novel, The Other Mrs Walker (Mantle/Picador) about a woman who finds families for dead people is a Times Bestseller and Waterstones Scottish Book of the Year 2017.

I have been Highly Commended as a Rising Star in the DIVA Literary Awards and shortlisted as a Breakthrough Author in the Books Are My Bag Readers Awards 2017. In 2016 I was named an Amazon Rising Star.

My short stories, non-fiction and other tall tales have been published in a variety of anthologies and magazines including the Guardian Weekend Magazine, New Writing Scotland, Gutter and The Herald. 

I have an MLitt in Creative Writing from the University of Glasgow. I was awarded Glasgow’s inaugural Curtis Brown Prize for Fiction in 2009, the Maverick Award from the Tom McGrath Trust in 2011 and the Literature Works First Page Prize in 2013.

I am a Hawthornden and a Brownsbank Fellow and a member of writers collective 26. I am represented by Clare Alexander of Aitken Alexander Associates.