Author and consultant solicitor, London
My new novel Notes on a Drowning is a thriller. It is about two determined women: Alex, a legal aid solicitor, and Kat, special political adviser to the home secretary. They are brought together by the death of a young woman, Natalia, who is found drowned in the Thames. Neither believes the official narrative and they are compelled to investigate, which leads them to the heart of a political scandal involving misogyny, international corruption and abuse of power. It is my sixth novel, but my first legal thriller, written under a pen name: Anna Sharpe.
In creating the main characters, I have drawn inspiration from aspects of my career as a solicitor, though I have avoided using any real cases. For many years, I worked in private practice as a human rights solicitor, and some of the office humour was sparked by ridiculous real-life scenarios. Similarly, some of the work pressures, funding problems and difficulties Alex faces in the book were also inspired by experiences in firms. A good deal of Alex’s world, however, is invention. No one (or almost no one) wants to read about the day-to-day realities of legal aid firms!
I trained within the Government Legal Service and went on to work for the Home Office litigation team at the Treasury Solicitor’s (TSol), then within the Ministry of Justice. I have used snippets of my time in government to inform how I wrote the world of Kat. However, I relied more on speaking to and reading about political advisers, and about life working within the Home Office.
'The main factor I drew from my life as a lawyer was anger at a policing and justice system that often fails to protect women and girls. It often fails to stop powerful men who are known to be abusers'
The main factor I drew from my life as a lawyer was my anger at a policing and justice system that fails to protect women and girls. It often fails to stop powerful men who are known to be abusers. I am a consultant at the Centre for Women’s Justice and we see far too many cases where perpetrators are allowed to continue with appalling and criminal behaviours, as well as cases where those who are supposed to be protecting the vulnerable abuse that position. My novel is about corruption and abuse of power, and that’s something that comes from my life as a solicitor but also from the news. Notes on a Drowning was published in the week Trump was inaugurated. I began writing it partly because of the Jeffrey Epstein case.
I loved books from an early age, and I began writing young. I wrote my first crime story – The Kidnap of Lucy – aged eight. (Lucy was my baby sister’s middle name. Sorry, Laura!). I studied English at university, but converted to law and trained as a solicitor. That is not something I have ever regretted – I have had a fascinating career – but perhaps something was missing. Working full-time as a litigator did not leave me with space for much else. When I went on maternity leave with my first child (who is now 14), I began writing short stories while my son slept. One of those short stories became my first novel, The Unseeing, which is based on the life of a woman called Sarah Gale who was convicted in 1837. I became fascinated by why she had refused to defend herself when accused of aiding and abetting her lover in the murder of another woman. I signed with a literary agent, got a publishing deal for that book, and edited it, while I was still working at Bindmans. Ever since then, I have tried to combine writing with law, first becoming a consultant at Bindmans, then covering Harriet Wistrich’s sabbatical at Birnbergs, and then working on and off as a consultant at CWJ.
I have had five dark historical fiction novels published under my real name, and of course a legal thriller as Anna Sharpe. My second legal thriller, Lie for Your Life, comes out with Orion in 2026 and is about a senior criminal barrister forced to prosecute a man who may be innocent.
To anyone considering writing a novel, do not feel you have to do an expensive writing course. Although some writing courses can be useful, particularly for meeting other writers, I have learnt most from reading and rereading other authors. And, of course, from writing. Do not feel that you need to have hours of spare time. Even if you only have 10 minutes, you can get a few sentences written, or spark a few thoughts.
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