Of The Painter's Daughters: ‘It's beautifully written and I raced through it. Research is filtered through contemporary consciousness and deployed with skill. It's a polished performance’ – Hilary Mantel

Of Mrs Dickens: 'Richly compelling and beautifully drawn, the understated elegance of Emily Howes' writing offers a combination of warmth and stark insight that took my breath away.' Florence Knapp

Emily Howes has worked as a storyteller, theatre maker, performer, writer and director for stage, television and radio. Emily has a Masters in Existential Psychotherapy and works as a psychotherapist. She is the award-winning author of debut novel with strong East Anglian links. The Painter’s Daughters (2024) fictionalises the fascinating lives of painter Thomas Gainsborough and his family. It was one of the top 10 Sunday Times Historical Fiction Books of the Year and won the 2021 Mslexia Novel Prize. We hope she will talk too about the eagerly-anticipated Mrs Dickens (due June 2026) which tells…