News.
I somehow haven’t updated my News section since I first built my website, so I’ve now added some highlights from the last two years (missing out so many). Thank you to the readers, reviewers, booksellers, and my brilliant publishing teams and agents who’ve made all this happen.
A Queen’s Reading Room book club pick
Winner of the Fiction category in the Indie Book Awards 2026
British Book Awards, Debut Fiction Winner
I love this sandwich board at Rossiter Books
No.1 on the Sunday Times Bestseller list
(illustrated by my team).
Tre Nomi, in the window of my favourite bookshop in Florence
A beautiful display at Buecher Koenig in Germany
From a summer ‘25 round up in the Guardian
Signing copies to go out to indie bookstores
A finalist in the Goodreads Choice Awards (Debut & Fiction categories)
On the BBC Culture website
Tre Nomi 🇮🇹
An event in a German church. I didn’t know about the screen until afterwards.
Personalised proofs with calligraphy by Laura Edralin
At the Hay Festival with Joanne Harris
With Jenna Bush on the Today show in New York
A review by Clare Clark in the Guardian
Outside Broadcasting House after appearing on
Woman’s Hour
A review in the Standard
An event at Waterstones Kings Road, with initials embroidered on bookmarks.
An interview with Jo Rodgers for Toast magazine. Photos by Aloha Bonser Shaw
A Between the Covers live event.
An Apple Best Book of 2025
With Fi & Jane at Times Radio
With Hattie Crisell, for an event at the Charlotte Street Hotel
A signed giclée print from Eva Navarro, the artist who painted the man on my cover
Audible’s Top 20 books of the year, 2025.
Dead, Alive, and Underrated, in the Sunday Times
A limited edition for winter
A review by Laura Hackett in the Sunday Times
A magical headline from Helen Davies in the Sunday Times
Billboards in London 🧡🧡🧡
Winter Hours - Orion gave their team the afternoon off (to read my novel)
Signing limited editions at the Goldsboro factory
With my US team before going on the TODAY show, as a Read with Jenna pick.
UK Cover Reveal Video
My publisher, Orion/Phoenix, created another gorgeous video, this time to unveil my cover here in the UK - I hope you’ll love it as much as I do (it’s even better with the sound up). The beautiful figure was painted in acrylics by the Spanish artist, Eva Navarro, while the idea of giving him three shadows was dreamt up by Orion’s own in-house designer, Chevonne Elbourne. Together, this feels a perfect depiction of my novel, which follows one family across thirty-five years, through three parallel versions of their lives, depending on the name a mother gives her newborn son. Perhaps because we can’t see the man's face, it seems like so much can be read into his stance - in one moment he appears to have an ease and confidence, in the next, he is tentative, and in another, there’s a slight arrogance. From the moment my editor, Francesca Main, showed me this image, I’ve felt an incredible affection for it and am delighted by how the team at Orion have built a cover around it that has so much texture and warmth. If you’d like to pre-order a copy, here are some links to retailers around the globe.
ANNOUNCEMENT IN THE BOOKSELLER, 18th October 2023.
You can read about my (very long) path to getting to this point on my FAQs page. But for now: what a joy. I feel ridiculously lucky that my novel has found such wonderful homes with editors who have such a fantastic vision for publishing it. You can find a more detailed synopsis for The Names on the My Books page.
Nb. This article was later amended to read quilt maker turned novelist :)
ANNOUNCEMENT VIDEO FROM MY PUBLISHER
My UK publisher created the most beautiful video, which was displayed on the Orion/Hachette stand at the Frankfurt Book Fair.