About Harriet Smart
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 acclaimed writing toolkit, Writer's Café, and the ebook editor Jutoh.
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 we have collaborated on Emma Vernon's Northminster Ghost Stories: a spin-off book in the Northminster world.
We live in England's most northerly town, Berwick-upon-Tweed, where the sea, Northumberland countryside and old architecture help inspire our work.
About my books
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!
Interviews
Harriet Smart interviewed on BBC Radio Scotland's 'Book Café', October 2008
Contact
BookBub: www.bookbub.com/authors/harriet-smart
Email: harriet@anthemion.co.uk