Lucy Wadham (born 1964) 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 wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while other ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

and writer of

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definiti ...

fiction. Her most widely reviewed work is her autobiographical account of her life in France, ''The Secret Life of France'' (2009). Wadham was born in

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 ...

and educated at

Magdalen College, Oxford Magdalen College ( ) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by Bishop of Winchester William of Waynflete. It is one of the wealthiest Oxford colleges, as of 2022, and ...

. In 1989, she worked as a news assistant at 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 ...

Paris bureau and has been a freelance print journalist since 1994. She has contributed regularly to ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', ''

The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British political and cultural news magazine. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving magazine in the world. ''The Spectator'' is politically conservative, and its principal subject a ...

'', and the ''

New Statesman ''The New Statesman'' (known from 1931 to 1964 as the ''New Statesman and Nation'') is a British political and cultural news magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first c ...

''. She lives in France with her four children. Her first novel, ''Lost'' (2000), a thriller set in

Corsica Corsica ( , , ; ; ) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the Regions of France, 18 regions of France. It is the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of the Metro ...

, was shortlisted for the Macallan

Gold Dagger The CWA Gold Dagger is an award given annually by the Crime Writers' Association of the United Kingdom since 1960 for the best crime novel of the year. From 1955 to 1959, the organization named their top honor as the Crossed Red Herring Award. ...

Award. The second novel, ''Castro's Dream'' (2003), about the Basque separatist movement

ETA Eta ( ; uppercase , lowercase ; ''ē̂ta'' or ''ita'' ) is the seventh letter of the Greek alphabet, representing the close front unrounded vowel, . Originally denoting the voiceless glottal fricative, , in most dialects of Ancient Greek, it ...

, is set in the Basque Country. ''Greater Love'' (2007), set in Portugal, Paris and Morocco in 2001, tells the story of Aisha and her quest to understand her twin brother's conversion to Islam. Wadham's 2009 book, ''The Secret Life of France'', is part memoir and part essay focussing on the cultural differences between Britain and France. She writes a blog on the same theme under the same name. Her 2013 book, ''Heads and Straights'', part of

Penguin Penguins are a group of aquatic flightless birds from the family Spheniscidae () of the order Sphenisciformes (). They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere. Only one species, the Galápagos penguin, is equatorial, with a sm ...

's series celebrating the 150th anniversary of the

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or as the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent home counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England. The Undergro ...

, traces her family's recent history through the lens of social class provided by growing up in Chelsea during the rise of

punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...

. In 2020 Wadham's first collection of poetry, 'Fold' published by Pindrop Press, was shortlisted for the Seamus Heaney First Poetry Collection Prize.

Bibliography

*''Lost'', Faber and Faber, 2000, *''Castro's Dream'', Faber and Faber, 2003, *''Greater Love'', Faber and Faber, 2007, *''The Secret Life of France'', Faber and Faber, 2009, *''Heads and Straights'', Penguin, 2013, *''Parfaite'', L'Avant Scène Théâtre - Collection des Quatre-Vents, 2014, *''Fold'', Pindrop Press, 2020,

References

External links

Blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wadham, Lucy 1964 births Living people Writers from London Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford English crime fiction writers English women novelists British women autobiographers Women mystery writers English expatriates in France English autobiographers English women non-fiction writers