About: Jane Davis
Hailed by The Bookseller as ‘One to Watch’, Jane Davis writes thought-provoking literary page turners with razor sharp dialogue and a strong commercial edge. She spent her twenties and the first half of her thirties chasing promotions in the business world but, frustrated by the lack of a creative outlet, she turned to writing. Her first novel, 'Half-Truths and White Lies', won a national award established with the aim of finding ‘the next Joanne Harris’. Further recognition followed in 2016 with 'An Unknown Woman' being named Self-Published Book of the Year by Writing Magazine/the David St John Thomas Charitable Trust, as well as being shortlisted in the IAN Awards, and in 2019 with 'Smash all the Windows' winning the inaugural Selfies Book Award. Interested in how people behave under pressure, Jane introduces her characters when they are in highly volatile situations and then, in her words, she throws them to the lions. The themes she explores are diverse, ranging from pioneering female photographers, to relatives seeking justice for the victims of a fictional disaster. A common thread that runs through her writing is the impact of missing persons on our lives, how the hole they leave behind can be so great that it dwarfs the people actually left behind. In 'I Stopped Time', it was an estranged mother. She addressed the theme head-on in 'A Funeral for an Owl', with teenage runaways. And in 'These Fragile Things' mother Elaine is obsessed by the child she lost to a miscarriage, almost to the exclusion of the child she has. Her latest novel, 'At the Stroke of Nine O’Clock', was published in July 2020. Set in post-war London, and featuring three very different women whose worlds collide, it has been featured by The Lady Magazine as one of their favourite books set in the 1950s, selected as a Historical Novel Society Editor's Choice, and shortlisted for the Selfies Book Awards 2021. Jane Davis lives in Carshalton, Surrey, in what was originally the ticket office for a Victorian pleasure gardens, known locally as ‘the gingerbread house’. Her house frequently features in her fiction. In fact, she burnt it to the ground in the opening chapter of 'An Unknown Woman'. It continues to provide a rich source of inspiration. Her work in progress asks the question why one man would choose to open a pleasure gardens at a time when so many others were facing bankruptcy. When she isn’t writing, you may spot Jane disappearing up the side of a mountain with a camera in hand.
Recent Posts by Jane Davis
The Chiswell Street Chronicles
The year is 1775. London is bursting at the seams. It has breached the confines of its ancient Roman blueprint to become the largest city in Europe. Though most Londoners live within walking distance of open countryside, Moorfields is one of the last remaining plots of open land in the city. It straddles the wall,…
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Written on March 15, 2024 at 5:22 pm
Categories: Blog
Tags: 18th Century, Based on a true story, Booksellers, Georgian era, Historical Fiction, Untold stories., women's education, Women's History Month
A woman of five and twenty
Based on a true story, The Bookseller’s Wife tells the story of Dorcas Turton, the great grand-daughter of the Honourable Sir John Turton, Baron of the Exchequer and Justice of the King’s Bench. Dorcas’s mother was so proud of her lineage that she kept her maiden name in the only way a woman in the…
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Written on March 13, 2024 at 2:26 pm
Categories: Blog
Tags: Education of women in eighteenth century england, Historical Fiction, James Lackington's Memoirs, Mary Wollstonecraft, Old Maid, The Bookseller's Wife, The Governess by Sarah Fielding
A Fitting Education for an 18th Century Daughter
When her family circumstances are dramatically reduced, Dorcas Turton (the main character in The Bookseller’s Wife) finds herself completely unprepared. In the opening chapters she reflects: ‘In all the years she spent absorbing the principles of good housewifery, as every genteel daughter must, never once did she envisage putting those lessons to practical use. And…
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Written on February 28, 2024 at 10:20 am
Categories: Blog
Virtual Book Club: Clare Flynn introduces The Colour of Glass
Today I’m delighted to welcome award-winning author Clare Flynn to Virtual Book Club, my author interview series in which authors have the opportunity to pitch their book to your book club. Clare Flynn is the author of fifteen historical novels and a collection of short stories. Her website promises historical fiction with modern themes and,…
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Written on May 23, 2023 at 10:39 am
Categories: Art in Fiction, Blog, Homepage, In-depth, The Selfies Awards, Virtual Book Club, Writing Life
Tags: Arts & Crafts, Christopher Whall, Clare Flynn, Edwardian Era, Harry Clarke, Historical Fiction, Historical Fiction Series, Indie Champion of the Year, Jasmine in Paris, Karl Parsons, Romantic Novelists' Association, Stained glass artist, The Colour of Glass, The Pearl of Penang, The Selfies Awards, women's suffrage movement
Virtual Book Club: Christine Webber introduces Watching from the Wings
Today I’m delighted to welcome Christine Webber back to Virtual Book Club, my author interview series in which authors have the opportunity to pitch their book to your book club. Christine was a guest on my blog in July 2021, when she was talking about her novel, So Many Ways of Loving, which was subsequently…
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Written on May 19, 2023 at 12:10 pm
Categories: Author Interviews, Blog, Homepage, In-depth, Self-Publishing, The Making of a Book, The Selfies Awards, Virtual Book Club, Writing Life
Tags: Books for Older Readers, Books with older main characters as protagonists, Christine Webber, health and aging, Older protagonist books, Positive Aging, So Many Ways of Loving, Watching from the Wings, Who'd Have Thought it?
Recent Comments by Jane Davis
- November 14, 2019 on Free Ebook & Readers’ Club
- May 3, 2019 on Free Ebook & Readers’ Club
- November 4, 2018 on Free Ebook & Readers’ Club
- November 22, 2017 on A Day in the Life: Alison Morton
- October 12, 2017 on Will the real Jane Davis please stand up. (Oh, you as well?)