About Anna

Raised in a creative hub on the Suffolk coast by an artist and a ballet teacher...

... She read English Literature at Goldsmiths before working in the British art world and opening her own gallery. She wrote her first book, THE UMBRELLA MOUSE, on her iPhone notepad during her daily commute on the London Underground.

THE UMBRELLA MOUSE won the 2019 Sainsbury's Book Prize for Fiction. It was also selected as Waterstones Book of the Month, longlisted for the Waterstones Children's Book Prize and was listed in the Sunday Telegraph's 50 Best Books of 2019 as well appearing as its Children's Book of the Week, and featured in the iNewspaper's list of 30 Best Children's Books 2019. Its eagerly anticipated sequel, UMBRELLA MOUSE TO THE RESCUE, was released in 2020. The New Statesman described both books as 'the best animal adventures since Margery Sharpe's THE RESCUERS.'

Anna's third historical adventure, THE FIRE CATS OF LONDON, was published in 2022 and was The Times and The Daily Mail's Children's Book of the Week. Her fourth novel, DELTA AND THE LOST CITY, will be published by Macmillan Children's Books in July 2024. It gained the Book of Month slot in The Bookseller

Anna is currently writing a fourth novel that will be published by Macmillan Children's Books in July 2024.

  • "With exciting twists and turns in every chapter, this is the best adventure set during the explosion of Vesuvius since Robert Harris’ Pompeii, and Delta, who is courageous, loyal and loving, is one of the finest animal protagonists to appear in children’s literature in recent times."

    Charlotte Eyre
    The Bookseller on Delta and the Lost City

  • "Ambitious and wonderful"

    Michael Morpurgo
    on The Umbrella Mouse

  • "The best animal adventures since Margery Sharpe's The Rescuers"

    Amanda Craig
    New Statesman on The Umbrella Mouse and The Umbrella Mouse to the Rescue

  • "An exquisite children's book"

    The Telegraph
    50 best books of 2019 on The Umbrella Mouse

  • "Catnip for lovers of animals, history and adventure"

    The Times
    Children's Book of the Week, The Fire Cats of London

Have a question for Anna? Or wish to invite her to an event?