Kate Morton is an Australian author. She is known for her best-selling novels, including '' The House at Riverton'', '' The Forgotten Garden'', and '' The Distant Hours''. Her seventh book, ''Homecoming'', was published in April 2023.

Early life and education

Morton is the oldest of three sisters. Her family moved several times before settling on

Tamborine Mountain Tamborine Mountain, also known simply as Mount Tamborine, is a plateau, geographic subregion and locality in the Scenic Rim Region of Queensland, Australia. In the , Tamborine Mountain had a population of 8,105 people. Geography The plate ...

where she attended a small country school. She enjoyed reading books from an early age, her favourites being those by

Enid Blyton Enid Mary Blyton (11 August 1897 – 28 November 1968) was an English children's writer, whose books have been worldwide bestsellers since the 1930s, selling more than 600 million copies. Her books are still enormously popular and have been tra ...

. She completed a Licentiate in Speech and in Drama from

Trinity College London Trinity College London (TCL) is an examination board based in London, United Kingdom which offers graded and diploma qualifications across a range of disciplines in the performing arts and English language learning and teaching. Trinity Colleg ...

and then a summer Shakespeare course at the

Royal Academy of Dramatic Art The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, also known by its abbreviation RADA (), is a drama school in London, England, which provides vocational conservatoire training for theatre, film, television, and radio. It is based in Bloomsbury, Central London ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. Later she earned

first-class honours The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading structure used for undergraduate degrees or bachelor's degrees and integrated master's degrees in the United Kingdom. The system has been applied, sometimes with significant var ...

in English Literature at the

University of Queensland The University of Queensland is a Public university, public research university located primarily in Brisbane, the capital city of the Australian state of Queensland. Founded in 1909 by the Queensland parliament, UQ is one of the six sandstone ...

(1999) and won a scholarship to complete a master's degree focussing on tragedy in Victorian literature.

Writing career

During her undergraduate studies she wrote two full-length manuscripts (which are unpublished) before writing ''The House at Riverton (The Shifting Fog)'', which was published in 2006. Her first published novel, ''The House at Riverton'', was listed on

Richard and Judy Richard and Judy is a term used to refer to British television presenters Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan, who are married. They co-hosted the ITV programme '' This Morning'' from 1988 to 2001 and later presented the chat show ''Richard & ...

's 2007 Summer Read list in the UK, and sold 63,128 copies in its first week. This made Morton the second biggest-selling author in the UK after

JK Rowling Joanne Rowling ( ; born 31 July 1965), known by her pen name , is a British author and philanthropist. She is the author of ''Harry Potter'', a seven-volume fantasy novel series published from 1997 to 2007. The series has List of best-sell ...

. , Morton had sold more than 16 million books in 42 countries, making her one of Australia's "biggest publishing exports".

Novels

* '' The House at Riverton'' (2006; also known as ''The Shifting Fog'') ''

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 ...

'' #1 bestseller, ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' bestseller, Winner - Richard and Judy Best Read of the Year 2007, General Fiction Book of the Year at the 2007 Australian Book Industry Awards, and nominated for Most Popular Book at the

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 ...

in 2008. Sainsbury's Popular Fiction Award Best Novel nominee (2008), Nielsen Gold Book Award 2010, Golden Pan Award UK 1,000,000 copies sold, Indie Next Outstanding Debut Winter 2009. *'' The Forgotten Garden'' (2008): ''New York Times'' bestseller, ''

'' #1 bestseller, #1 bestseller Spain, Spiegel bestseller, winner of the ABIA General Fiction Book of the Year (2009), longlisted for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award (2010) * '' The Distant Hours'' (2010): ''

'' bestseller, #1 bestseller Spain, #1 bestseller Ireland Spiegel bestseller, commended in the Christina Stead Award, Fellowship of Australian Writers National Literary Awards (2010) * '' The Secret Keeper'' (2012): ''

'' bestseller, ''

'' bestseller, Spiegel bestseller, El País bestseller, winner of the General Fiction Book of the Year, Australian Book Industry Awards (2013), winner of the Christina Stead Award, Fellowship of Australian Writers National Literary Awards (2012), winner of ''The Courier-Mail'' People's Choice Queensland Book of the Year (2013), finalist of the Best Translated Honkaku Mystery of the Decade (2010-2019). * '' The Lake House'' (2015): ''New York Times'' bestseller, ''

'' bestseller, #1 bestseller in Australia, #1 bestseller in Canada, ''Der Spiegel'' bestseller, ''El País'' bestseller. *''The Clockmakers Daughter'' (2018): ''

'' bestseller, ''

'' bestseller, #1 bestseller in Australia, #1 bestseller Canada *''Homecoming'' (April 2023)

Personal life

Morton is married to Davin Patterson, a jazz musician and composer. They have three children and live in

.Kate Morton – Contact
Katemorton.com

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Morton, Kate Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 21st-century Australian novelists Australian women novelists University of Queensland alumni 21st-century Australian women writers Australian emigrants to England Writers from South Australia