Sharon Bolton

View Reviews of books by Sharon Bolton

Countdown with ...

Sharon Bolton

Sharon (SJ) Bolton grew up in a cotton-mill town in Lancashire and had an eclectic early career in marketing and PR. She gave it all up to go freelance, become a mother and a writer. Her first novel, Sacrifice, was voted Best New Read by Amazon.uk, whilst her second, Awakening, won the 2010 Mary Higgins Clark award. In 2014, Lost, (UK title, Like This, For Ever) was named RT Magazine’s Best Contemporary Thriller in the US, and in France, Now You See Me won the Plume de Bronze. That same year, Sharon was awarded the CWA Dagger in the Library, for her entire body of work. Sharon lives with her family of four, one of whom is a food-stealing, rabbit-chasing lurcher, in the Chiltern Hills, not far from Oxford.

Interviewed 21 November 2015

Ten words to sum up your working life to date ...

Learning that there is no substitute for darned hard work.

Nine things you can see from where you're sitting ...

A ceramic puffin, a real dog, my son winning a race, a book about Witchcraft & Spells, Samson & Delilah, a grade 5 rapid on the Zambezi river, the door to the attic, a patch of stormy sky and a portal into another world.

Eight minutes to prepare a meal. What's it going to be ?

Very cold white wine, fresh bread & butter, soft cheese, crisps, olives.

Seven people you'd like to go for a drink with ...

Dan Brown, Michael Gove, Katie Hopkins, Janey Godley, King Henry II, Nicola Sturgeon, the Duke of Edinburgh.
(“That is one messed-up drinks party,” - my 13-year-old son.)

Six things you can't live without ...

Sunshine, tea, dancing, the music of the Black Eyed Peas, a pencil and my box sets of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Five favourite words ...

Diabolical, hemlock, dragonfly, magic, bollocks.

Four places you'd run away to ...

Venice, Dartmouth, San Francisco, the Forest of Bowland.

Three books you've bought recently ...

Second Best, by Callum Best, for my father, who was a great fan of George.
A Place Called Winter, by Patrick Gale, for its exquisite cover.
The Shut Eye, by Belinda Bauer, for a friend’s 50th birthday present.

Two things that make you rant ...

Unnecessary aisle blocking on airplanes (just fricking well sit down!)
Long queues for the ladies’ loos (I mean, ffs, what do they do in there?)

One thing you'd tell your teenage self ...

Don’t even think about dating the boy next door.