Amy Jenkins (born 1966, in London) is an English novelist and screenwriter. She is the daughter of political journalist Peter Jenkins and the stepdaughter of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide ...

'' columnist and author

Polly Toynbee Mary Louisa "Polly" Toynbee (; born 27 December 1946) is a British journalist and writer. She has been a columnist for ''The Guardian'' newspaper since 1998. She is a social democrat and was a candidate for the Social Democratic Party (UK), Soc ...

. In 2004 she married Jonathan Heawood, and they have one son. Jenkins was educated at

Pimlico School Pimlico Academy (formerly Pimlico School) is a mixed-sex education secondary school and sixth form with academy status, located in the Pimlico area of Westminster in London. History Conversion to academy After many years of underperformance, cu ...

, a state secondary, before attending the sixth form of the private

Westminster School Westminster School is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school in Westminster, London, England, in the precincts of Westminster Abbey. It derives from a charity school founded by Westminster Benedictines before the 1066 Norman Conquest, as d ...

. She went on to study law at

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = � ...

. Jenkins turned to writing and in 1996 achieved her first significant success with '' This Life'', a

BBC television drama BBC television dramas have been produced and broadcast since even before the public service company had an officially established television broadcasting network in the United Kingdom. As with any major broadcast network, drama forms an importan ...

series about the lives and loves of a household of solicitors and barristers. She devised the series and wrote several episodes. Other film, television and journalism work followed and in 1998 she secured a two-novel contract, her first novel, ''Honeymoon'', appearing in 2000. Although it was the second biggest

debut novel A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to ...

of the year, selling over 250,000 copies in the UK and Commonwealth, critics noted that a central plot device in Jenkins' work possessed a striking similarity to the premise of

Noël Coward Sir Noël Peirce Coward (16 December 189926 March 1973) was an English playwright, composer, director, actor, and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what ''Time (magazine), Time'' magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combina ...

's play ''

Private Lives ''Private Lives'' is a 1930 comedy of manners in three acts by Noël Coward. It concerns a divorced couple who, while honeymooning with their new spouses, discover that they are staying in adjacent rooms at the same hotel. Despite a perpetuall ...

''. In ''Honeymoon'' a man and woman who seven years previously had a brief affair meet again when they find themselves staying in adjacent hotel rooms on their respective honeymoons; at the opening of Coward's play a divorced couple find themselves honeymooning in adjacent hotel rooms. Her second novel, ''Funny Valentine'', was published in 2002. She wrote and produced the feature film ''Elephant Juice'', released in 2000. She has directed three short films including the "Mr Cool" segment of '' Tube Tales.'' An anniversary special of ''This Life'' was broadcast on

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream ...

at 9 pm on 2 January 2007. Jenkins wrote the biographical drama ''

Daphne Daphne (; ; el, Δάφνη, , ), a minor figure in Greek mythology, is a naiad, a variety of female nymph associated with fountains, wells, springs, streams, brooks and other bodies of freshwater. There are several versions of the myth in wh ...

'', screened on BBC Two in 2007, celebrating the centenary of the birth of

Daphne du Maurier Dame Daphne du Maurier, Lady Browning, (; 13 May 1907 – 19 April 1989) was an English novelist, biographer and playwright. Her parents were actor-manager Sir Gerald du Maurier and his wife, actress Muriel Beaumont. Her grandfather was Georg ...

.Wynn, Patricia. (14 May 2007
Last night on television
''Daily Telegraph''. Retrieved on 10 August 2011. She co-wrote, with

Peter Morgan Peter Julian Robin Morgan, (10 April 1963) is a British screenwriter and playwright. He is the playwright behind '' The Audience'' and '' Frost/Nixon'' and the screenwriter of '' The Queen'' (2006), '' Frost/Nixon'' (2008), '' The Damned Unit ...

, episode 4 of the second season of ''

The Crown The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has differen ...

''.

References

External links

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Biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jenkins, Amy 1966 births 21st-century British novelists Living people Alumni of University College London People educated at Westminster School, London