1. Revolution is in my blood. The one in Dangerous Remedy is bigger than anything my family has known, but from my mum being loaded into a police van at a march when she was still in a pushchair, or my great great grandfather leading early unionisation in the coal mines of South Wales, we’ve always been vocal advocates for liberation, equality, and the left wing. I grew up hearing about how my great grandfather would come home from school to find all their belongings on the street outside after they’d been evicted because of his father’s union work. They’d walk over the hills to the next valley and the next pit and start again.
Kat Dunn (Jamie Drew), Glorious Poison
2. I’m not French, but I did spend a lot of time in France as a child, and my family still speaks French at home. Dangerous Remedy drew on the culture and history that’s always been part of my life. Any time I wasn’t in school we drove overnight down to a little town in the Dordogne and lived an extremely rustic lifestyle, three rooms, gas bottles hooked up to the cooker and days exploring caves and playing with my cousin in the corn fields.
3. I speak French and Japanese. I moved to Japan when I was 18 and worked in a hospital where few people spoke English. Later, I studied in Kobe and worked as a translator for Japanese TV at Wimbledon. I spent my birthday translating in centre court.
4. I grew up under section 28 so seeing so many queer YA books getting published makes my heart warm. Section 28 was only scrapped when I was 15, so for most of my time at school no one could talk about being gay, about queer history, queer literature, or queer families. I would hunt for any representation I could find in popular media, and ended up reading lots of fanfic because that was the only place I could see queerness celebrated. But it’s very different now! I’m really proud to publish a series with a sapphic love story at its heart.
5. I’m a huge history nerd. I once applied to be on a TV show where participants would reenact life in the Victorian East End but the show never got made. Writing historical novels is as close as I’ll get to time travel now!
6. Found family means the world to me as my family has always been small and scattered. My oldest friend is like my sister, and I don’t think not sharing blood makes our bond any weaker. We chose each other, which means more than a chance of birth. Dangerous Remedy is a story of found family at its core, and I wouldn’t have made it as far as I have without the friends I call family.
7. I wrote a trilogy because I love a twist and a cliffhanger! I’m so sorry for all the emotional damage Dangerous Remedy, Monstrous Design have caused, please send your therapy bill to my publishers when you read Glorious Poison.
