The topic of focus for our evening with three experienced, prize-winning fiction writers is starting writing later in life. Many successful writers start their writing careers after a primary career in another field. Suzanne, Louise, and Gill will describe their experiences on their pathways to literary success, and open discussion at Goldfinch on all things writerly. This event will be tickets-only, with tickets available early in the new year.

Gill Thompson began her working life as a teacher, more recently becoming an author, gaining an M.A in Creative Writing from the University of Chichester. Gill’s first two novels, The Oceans Between Us and The Child on Platform One were both digital number one bestsellers and The Child on Platform One was a USA Today and Wallstreet Journal bestseller. Her new novel, The Lighthouse Sisters, about a wartime family on Channel Island Jersey, came out in paperback in September.

Louise Morrish is our beloved, resident author and friend of Goldfinch. She is a Librarian whose debut novel won the 2019 Penguin Random House First Novel Competition. She finds inspiration for her stories in the real-life adventures of women in the past, whom history has forgotten. Her spectacular debut, Operation Moonlight, is a top seller at Goldfinch, and we are keenly looking forward to book 2 which is in the making.

Following an eventful career as a public relations consultant, Suzanne Goldring turned to writing the kind of novels she likes to read, about the extraordinary lives of ordinary people. Her debut novel My name is Eva draws on her experience of volunteering in a care home and was partially inspired by a cache of wartime love letters which were saved from the flames. Her second novel, Burning Island is set in Corfu, a place of fun and beauty but also tremendous tragedy. The Girl with the Scarlet Ribbon was published earlier this year to critical aclaim, and her current novel, The Woman Outside the Walls is described as ‘A completely gripping WW2 historical novel about a heartbreaking secret’.