Bernadette Strachan (' Gaughan, born 27 December 1962) is an English author of popular women's fiction and among the more popular writers of "

chick lit "Chick lit" is a term used to describe a type of popular fiction targeted at women. Widely used in the 1990s and 2000s, the term has fallen out of fashion with publishers, with numerous writers and critics rejecting it as inherently sexist. Nove ...

Biography

Strachan was born in

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

, London, into an

Irish Catholic Irish Catholics () are an ethnoreligious group native to Ireland, defined by their adherence to Catholic Christianity and their shared Irish ethnic, linguistic, and cultural heritage.The term distinguishes Catholics of Irish descent, particul ...

family. Her Irish background is often incorporated into her writing, particularly in the semi-autobiographical musical ''

Next Door's Baby ''Next Door's Baby'' is a musical with music and lyrics by Matthew Strachan and book by Bernie Gaughan (whose novels are published under the name Bernadette Strachan), based on Gaughan's radio play of the same name. Set in 1950's Dublin, it tell ...

'' which was written for London's

Orange Tree Theatre The Orange Tree Theatre is a 180-seat theatre at 1 Clarence Street, Richmond in south-west London, which was built specifically as a theatre in the round. It is housed within a disused 1867 primary school, built in Victorian Gothic style. Th ...

with

Matthew Strachan Matthew Strachan ( or ; 11 December 1970 – 8 September 2021) was an English composer and singer-songwriter. His best known work is the music for British television game show ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (British game show), Who Wants to ...

. Prior to becoming an author, she worked in the media as a radio advertising producer and subsequently as an agent for voiceover artists. Her first novel, ''The Reluctant Landlady'', was published by

Hodder & Stoughton Hodder & Stoughton is a British publishing house, now an imprint of Hachette.H ...

in 2004. Since then she has published three further novels with the same publisher. In 2009, her fifth book, ''How to Lose a Husband and Gain a Life'', followed in 2010 by ''Why Do We Have to Live with Men?'', were both published by

Little, Brown Little, Brown and Company is an American publishing company founded in 1837 by Charles Coffin Little and James Brown in Boston. For close to two centuries, it has published fiction and nonfiction by American authors. Early lists featured Emil ...

. In 2013, her seventh novel, ''The Valentine's Card'', was published by

, under the pseudonym of Juliet Ashton. She has written a further three novels as Juliet Ashton for

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster LLC (, ) is an American publishing house owned by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts since 2023. It was founded in New York City in 1924, by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. Along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group US ...

and four novels as Claire Sandy for

Pan Macmillan Pan Books is a British publishing imprint that first became active in the 1940s and is now part of the British-based Macmillan Publishers, owned by the Georg von Holtzbrinck Publishing Group of Germany. History Pan Books began as an indepe ...

. She also writes screen and theatre works under her maiden name of Bernie Gaughan. In 2017,

announced that Strachan would be writing a crime thriller series with her composer husband Matthew Strachan under the pseudonym of M. B. Vincent.

Bibliography

*''The Reluctant Landlady'' (2004) *''Handbags and Halos'' (2005) *''Diamonds and Daisies'' (2007) *''Little White Lies'' (2008) *''How to Lose a Husband and Gain a Life'' (2009) *''Why Do We Have to Live with Men?'' (2010) *''The Valentine's Card'' (2013) *''What Would Mary Berry Do?'' (2014) *''A Very Big House in the Country'' (2015) *''Snowed in for Christmas'' (2015) *''These Days of Ours'' (2016) *''A Not Quite Perfect Family'' (2017) *''The Woman at Number 24'' (2017) *''The Sunday Lunch Club'' (2018) *''Jess Castle and the Eyeballs of Death'' (2018)

Theatre Works

*''

'' (2006) *''About Bill'' (2011)interview

Whatsonstage WhatsOnStage is a UK-based theatre website providing news, reviews, interviews, and a comprehensive listings database of performances across the country. The platform claims to list over 5,000 performances at any given time and also operates a tick ...

References

External links

*
Bernadette Strachan
at

''Next Door's Baby''
at the

website
''The Valentine's Card''
at

Bernadette Strachan Bookseller interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Strachan, Bernadette 1962 births Living people English women novelists English dramatists and playwrights British chick lit writers People from Fulham Writers from the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham English people of Irish descent English women dramatists and playwrights