Here’s me in a nutshell: I born in Liverpool, England, and grew up in a home where we did a lot of reading, not merely out of a love of books but by necessity.

This was the start of a passion for writing, which led to my first job as trainee reporter on the Liverpool Echo, a position I loved and in which lifelong friendships were forged over deadlines and quite a lot of beer.

I worked my way up to become Editor of the Liverpool Daily Post, but after five years at the helm I finally tackled my long-standing ambition to write a novel.

I wrote ‘Bridesmaids’ during maternity leave with my first baby and it was published under the pseudonym ‘Jane Costello’. To everyone’s surprise, not least mine, it became a bestseller. I wrote nine romantic comedy novels in all, each of those bestsellers too.

But after a decade, I started looking for a different direction and came up with the idea for 'You Me Everything'.

It was my agent who suggested I change my name, to reflect the ambition of my new novel, but I don't mind admitting that it gave me a few sleepless nights at first. My Jane Costello rom coms had made me a Sunday Times bestseller and attracted loyal following of readers who had been buying my books for a decade.

In the event 'You Me Everything' became by far my biggest writing success to date: it's been translated into 24 languages, won the Popular Romantic Fiction award at the RoNAs and a movie is in development by Lionsgate and Temple Hill.

My next book, 'Messy, Wonderful Us' will be published in the UK in November 2019 in hardback and ebook, while the paperback is out in March 2020. 

I still live in Liverpool with my husband Mark, my three sons and dog Maisie. As well as my writing, I also love running, walking in the Lake District and baking cakes (of variable quality).

I love hearing from anyone who's read my books, so please do write an Amazon review if you're so inclined - or get in touch with me direct, on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram

AGENT

Sheila Crowley at Curtis Brown

TRANSLATION RIGHTS

Katie McGowan at Curtis Brown

PUBLICITY

US: Alison Klooster at Penguin Random House

UK: Becky McCarthy at Simon and Schuster UK

PHOTOGRAPHY

Stephen Wolstenholme