I was born and brought up in Birmingham. I attended the University of St Andrews, specialising in the architecture and applied arts of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. I also have an MA in TV screenwriting.
My early novels were published by Headline: A Garland of Vows ('an extremely promising first historical novel' - The Sunday Times), Green Grow the Rushes ('Smart's characters have a feel of authentic life and move in and out of a backdrop which cunningly incorporates political change, trade union rebellion, suffragette noise and good food' - The Sunday Times), The Daughters of Blane, The Lark Ascending, and The Wild Garden. I was shortlisted for the The Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award in 1992.
All these, except A Garland of Vows, are now available as e-books on Amazon.
More recently, I have been writing the Northminster Mysteries, following Major Giles Vernon and Dr Felix Carswell as they fight crime and their own emotional struggles, against the backdrop of a smoky, industrialising town in early Victorian England. My research for the books included wearing stays and hand-sewing a man's shirt.
I am creative director of Anthemion Software, and co-designed Anthemion's writing toolkit, Writer's Café.
I am married to Dr Julian Smart, technical director of Anthemion Software. Julian is the founder of the wxWidgets project, a construction kit for applications that run on a variety of computer platforms, and the author of the ebook editor Jutoh. We have collaborated on Emma Vernon's Northminster Ghost Stories, a spin-off book in the Northminster world. Julian is writing his own Victorian detective series: the Thomas Rufford Mysteries.
We live in England's most northerly town, Berwick-upon-Tweed, where the sea, Northumberland countryside and old architecture help inspire our work.
When you read a Harriet Smart book, you will go on an emotional, sensual journey through the complex lives of characters you really believe in and care about, whether it's a mystery, saga, or romance.
Travel to a castle on a Scottish island in the eighteen-nineties, or to the battlefields of the First World War; visit the dark streets of Regency London or vibrant, contemporary Edinburgh. Heart-stopping emotional dilemmas, exciting political drama, the temptations of love - in short, fiction you'll find hard to put down.
Find out what happens to Leonora in the Siege of Mafeking. Does Chris Adam achieve her ambition to be a distinguished composer? Does Vivien find happiness when she marries a politician? What can become of Angus, as a soldier in the First World War when he's honest about his unconventional sexuality? Can Jessie, a cook, really find happiness with Scotsman on the make, Sholto Hamilton? Can Alix Erskine survive going on hunger strike for her beliefs?
I hope you enjoy exploring the worlds of Harriet Smart, and will remember the characters for years to come!
You can follow Harriet on Instagram @harrietsmartauthor.
