Elodie Lauren Geraldine Harper is an English author and journalist. She began her career working for the BBC and

Channel 4 News ''Channel 4 News'' is the main news programme on British television broadcaster Channel 4. It is produced by ITN, and has been in operation since Channel 4's launch in November 1982. Current productions ''Channel 4 News'' ''Channel 4 News'' ...

before joining ''

ITV News Anglia ''ITV News Anglia'' is a British television news service for the East of England, broadcast and produced by ITV Anglia. History ''Anglia News'' replaced the long-running news magazine programme '' About Anglia'' on Monday, 9 July 1990. Initiall ...

'' as a reporter. Her Pompeii-set novel ''The Wolf Den'' (2021), the first in a trilogy, became a #1 ''

Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...

'' bestseller.

Early life

Harper is from West London, the daughter of retired actress

Suzy Kendall Suzy Kendall (born Freda Harriet Harrison; 1937) is a British retired actress best known for her film roles in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Early life Born in Belper, Derbyshire, Kendall attended the Herbert Strutt Grammar School. Later, sh ...

. Harper attended

Francis Holland School Francis Holland School is the name of three separate private day schools for girls in central London, England, governed by the Francis Holland (Church of England) Schools Trust. The schools are located at Clarence Gate (near Regent's Park ...

. She graduated from

Corpus Christi College, Oxford Corpus Christi College (formally, Corpus Christi College in the University of Oxford; informally abbreviated as Corpus or CCC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1517 by Richard Fo ...

with a degree in English literature.

Career

Harper presented a number of documentaries for the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

, including a July 2006 documentary on

Volunteer Ministers A Volunteer Minister (VM) is a member of the Church of Scientology sent to a disaster zone to spread the doctrine of Scientology during disaster relief efforts. The program was created in the 1970s by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. Th ...

Scientology Scientology is a set of beliefs and practices invented by the American author L. Ron Hubbard, and an associated movement. It is variously defined as a scam, a Scientology as a business, business, a cult, or a religion. Hubbard initially develo ...

for

BBC Radio 5 Live BBC Radio 5 Live is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It broadcasts mainly news, sport, Talk show, discussion, interviews and phone-ins, and is on air 24 hours a day. It is the principal BBC radio station Broadca ...

. She then worked as a producer and reporter for

before joining ''

'' in 2010 as a staff reporter. Harper successfully submitted her short story "Wild Swimming" to

Stephen King Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author. Dubbed the "King of Horror", he is widely known for his horror novels and has also explored other genres, among them Thriller (genre), suspense, crime fiction, crime, scienc ...

's ''Bazaar of Bad Dreams'' short story competition. The winning story then featured King's 2016 anthology '' Six Scary Stories''. That March, Harper signed a two-book deal with Mulholland Books for the publication of her debut novel ''The Binding Song'', a thriller set at the fictional HMP Halvergate in Norfolk, in 2017. This was followed by her second crime novel ''The Death Knock'' in 2018. However, she felt her first two novels, set in the "Norfolk Noir" genre, were too close to her day job, motivating her to go into historical fiction. Historian Dan Jones introduced Harper to Head of Zeus (a

Bloomsbury Books Bloomsbury Publishing plc is a British worldwide publishing house of fiction and non-fiction. Bloomsbury's head office is located on Bedford Square in Bloomsbury, an area of the London Borough of Camden. It has a US publishing office located in ...

imprint), through which Harper published her first historical fiction novel ''The Wolf Den'' in May 2021. Set in ancient

Pompeii Pompeii ( ; ) was a city in what is now the municipality of Pompei, near Naples, in the Campania region of Italy. Along with Herculaneum, Stabiae, and Villa Boscoreale, many surrounding villas, the city was buried under of volcanic ash and p ...

, the novel follows Amara, a young woman enslaved in the city's

Lupanar The Lupanar (Latin for "brothel") is the ruined building of an Prostitution in ancient Rome, ancient Roman brothel in the city of Pompeii. It is of particular interest for the Erotic art in Pompeii and Herculaneum#Brothels, erotic paintings on it ...

. She cited Robert Knapp's ''Invisible Romans'', Mary Beard's ''Pompeii'', and Alison Cooley's ''Pompeii and Herculaneum'' as some of her sources when conducting research for the novel. ''The Wolf's Den'' debuted at #1 on ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...

'' paperback fiction list, won the Goldsboro Books Glass Bell Award, and was shortlisted for Page Turner of the Year at the 2022

British Book Awards The British Book Awards or Nibbies are literary awards for the best UK writers and their works, administered by ''The Bookseller''. The awards have had several previous names, owners and sponsors since being launched in 1990, including the Na ...

. It was also longlisted for the Historical Writers' Association's (HWA) Gold Crown Award. This was followed by a sequel ''The House with the Golden Door'' in 2022, which entered the top 10 on the bestseller list. The third and final installment ''The Temple of Fortuna'' was published in 2023. Antonia Senior of ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' called it "one of the best historical fiction trilogies" since

Hilary Mantel Dame Hilary Mary Mantel ( ; born Thompson; 6 July 1952 – 22 September 2022) was a British writer whose work includes historical fiction, personal memoirs and short stories. Her first published novel, ''Every Day Is Mother's Day'', was releas ...

's ''

Wolf Hall ''Wolf Hall'' is a 2009 historical novel by English author Hilary Mantel, published by Fourth Estate, named after the Seymour family's seat of Wolfhall, or Wulfhall, in Wiltshire. Set in the period from 1500 to 1535, ''Wolf Hall'' is a sym ...

''. In 2022, it was confirmed Harper would reunite with Head of Zeus for her next two novels: ''Boudicca's Daughter'' and an untitled novel about

Fulvia Fulvia (; d. 40 BC) was an aristocratic Roman woman who lived during the late Roman Republic. Fulvia's birth into an important political dynasty facilitated her relationships and, later on, marriages to Publius Clodius Pulcher, Gaius Scribo ...

Mark Antony Marcus Antonius (14 January 1 August 30 BC), commonly known in English as Mark Antony, was a Roman people, Roman politician and general who played a critical role in the Crisis of the Roman Republic, transformation of the Roman Republic ...

's wife. In 2024, Harper signed her first children's book deal with DK Children for a middle-grade trilogy.

Personal life

Harper married Jason Farrington in 2010. They divorced in 2020.

Bibliography

''Wolf Den'' trilogy

* ''The Wolf Den'' (2021) * ''The House with the Golden Door'' (2022) * ''The Temple of Fortuna'' (2023)

Standalones

* ''The Binding Song'' (2017) * ''The Death Knock'' (2018) * ''Boudicca's Daughter'' (2025) * Untitled

novel (2026)

Short stories

* "Wild Swimming" in '' Six Scary Stories'' (2016), edited by

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harper, elodie Living people 1979 births Alumni of Corpus Christi College, Oxford English crime fiction writers English reporters and correspondents English women historical novelists English women novelists ITV regional newsreaders and journalists People educated at Francis Holland School Writers from the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham Writers of historical fiction set in antiquity