Esther Freud (born 2 May 1963) is a British

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others asp ...

Early life and training

Born in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, Freud is the daughter of Bernardine Coverley and painter

Lucian Freud Lucian Michael Freud (; 8 December 1922 – 20 July 2011) was a British painter and draughtsman, specialising in figurative art, and is known as one of the foremost 20th-century English portraitists. He was born in Berlin, the son of Jewis ...

. She is also a

great-granddaughter Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Ideal ...

Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating pathologies explained as originating in conflicts ...

and niece of

Clement Freud Sir Clement Raphael Freud (24 April 1924 – 15 April 2009) was a German-born British broadcaster, writer, politician and chef. The son of Ernst L. Freud and grandson of Sigmund Freud, Clement moved to the United Kingdom from Nazi Germany as ...

. She travelled extensively with her mother as a child, returning to London at 16 to train as an actress at The Drama Centre.

Career

She has worked in television and theatre as both actress and writer. Her first credited television appearance was as a terrified diner in ''

The Bill ''The Bill'' is a British police procedural television series, first broadcast on ITV from 16 August 1983 until 31 August 2010. The programme originated from a one-off drama, '' Woodentop'', broadcast in August 1983. The programme focused o ...

'' in 1984, running frantically out of a Chinese restaurant after it had received a bomb scare. A year later she appeared as an alien in the '' Doctor Who'' serial '' Attack of the Cybermen''. Her novels include the semi-autobiographical '' Hideous Kinky'', which was adapted into a film starring Kate Winslet. She is also the author of ''The Wild'', ''Gaglow'', and ''The Sea House''. She also wrote the foreword for '' The Summer Book'' by

Tove Jansson Tove Marika Jansson (; 9 August 1914 – 27 June 2001) was a Swedish-speaking Finnish author, novelist, painter, illustrator and comic strip author. Brought up by artistic parents, Jansson studied art from 1930 to 1938 in Stockholm, Helsinki and ...

. Freud was named as one of the 20 "Best of Young British Novelists" by ''

Granta ''Granta'' is a literary magazine and publisher in the United Kingdom whose mission centres on its "belief in the power and urgency of the story, both in fiction and non-fiction, and the story’s supreme ability to describe, illuminate and ma ...

'' magazine in 1993. Her novels have been translated into 13 languages. She is also the co-founder (with

Kitty Aldridge Kitty Aldridge (born 9 May 1962) is a British actress and writer. Life and career Aldridge was born in Bahrain. After training as an actress at the Drama Centre London, Aldridge went on to work in film, theatre and television as an actress for ...

) of the women's theatre company Norfolk Broads. In 2009, she donated the short story ''Rice Cakes and Starbucks'' to Oxfam's ' Ox-Tales' project, four collections of UK stories written by 38 authors. Her story was published in the 'Water' collection. As of 2014 Freud taught at the Faber Academy.

Personal life

Freud has a sister, fashion designer

Bella Freud Isobel Lucia Freud (born 17 April 1961), better known as Bella Freud, is a London-based fashion designer. Life and career Freud was born in London, England. She is the daughter of Bernardine Coverley and artist Lucian Freud, and the great-gran ...

, and a half-brother, Noah Woodman. Her uncle was politician Sir Clement Freud. She has two cousins in the media industry; public relations executive Matthew and broadcaster Emma. She was married to actor

David Morrissey David Mark Joseph Morrissey (born 21 June 1964) is an English actor and filmmaker. Described by the British Film Institute as "one of the most versatile English actors of his generation", he is noted for the meticulous preparation and research h ...

, with whom she had three children. They married in 2006. They had separated by 2020, when Freud began living with a boyfriend. Freud maintains homes in London and Walberswick near

Southwold Southwold is a seaside town and civil parish on the English North Sea coast in the East Suffolk district of Suffolk. It lies at the mouth of the River Blyth within the Suffolk Coast and Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The town is ...

in Suffolk. Freud's maternal grandparents were practising

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

Catholics but her mother was nonobservant, while her father's Jewish family were atheists. She identifies herself as Jewish.

Works

* '' Hideous Kinky'' (1992) * ''Peerless Flats'' (1993) * ''Gaglow'' (1997) * ''The Wild'' (2000) * ''The Sea House'' (2003) * ''Love Falls'' (2007) * ''Lucky Break'' (2010) * ''Mr Mac and Me'' (2014) * ''I Couldn't Love You More'' (2021)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Freud, Esther 1963 births Living people 20th-century British women writers 20th-century English novelists 21st-century British women writers 21st-century English novelists Actresses from London British people of German-Jewish descent British women novelists English Jews English people of Irish descent

Esther Esther is the eponymous heroine of the Book of Esther. In the Achaemenid Empire, the Persian king Ahasuerus seeks a new wife after his queen, Vashti, is deposed for disobeying him. Hadassah, a Jewess who goes by the name of Esther, is chosen ...