Our Authors
Sara Sheridan
Sara Sheridan writes fiction for adults and children. Her previous novels include Truth or Dare (1998), Ma Polinski’s Pockets (2000) and The Pleasure Express (2001), all Random House. She has also worked as a ghost-writer for Mia Dolan and Judy Westwater. She has been included in GQ Magazine’s Young Talent and Company Magazine’s Top Ten Young Writers Under Thirty. In 2000 Truth or Dare won a place in the 100 Best Scottish Books, as part of the Scottish Library Award. She has been awarded two bursaries by the Scottish Arts Council and from the K Blundell Trust. She lives in Edinburgh.
Books by Sara Sheridan
The Secret Mandarin
THE SECRET MANDARIN is a dramatic, involving story of love and loss set against the intriguing backdrop of nineteenth century China.
Actress Mary Penney disgraces her respectable relations when she becomes pregnant. Her family’s attempts to pack her off to India for a new life are thwarted when she fails to board her ship. Desperate to remove her from English society, Mary’s pompous brother in law, husband of her much-loved sister, forces her to accompany him on his botanical expedition to China. On board he refuses to speak to her for the first month, and Mary is left alone to come to terms with her plight. The mission is difficult and dangerous – the novel is set at the time of the first Opium War, the British are regarded as enemies, and the export of tea bushes banned. Robert and Mary disguise themselves as a mandarin and man-servant, and Mary’s eyes are opened by the journey- she learns about plants, becomes fluent in Cantonese, empathises with the plight of Chinese peasants, and revels in the freedom afforded by her male identity. As the voyage continues into remote territory, so Robert and Mary’s relationship changes from antipathy to respect, and from friendship to love – but it’s an affair doomed from the start.
All rights available
The Love Squad
THE LOVE SQUAD is a wise, fast-paced coming of age novel for teenagers about the meaning of fame. It also questions many assumptions of modern life through the eyes of an outsider.
When May goes to Manchester to study medicine she moves in with her aunt. Coming from a remote island off the coast of Scotland she quickly finds herself as out of her depth in the big city as she is bemused by her aunt’s stories of her family background – strangely at odds with the version May grew up with. She flings herself into college including a dissection class where she makes friends who introduce her to popular culture. When they go to see a game at Manchester City Football Club, May falls head over heels with the team’s Brazilian star striker, Jesus Parasina. Much to everyone’s amusement she begins to stalk Jesus – in her confusing new situation the terrace chants based on hymns and the rules of football seem comforting and familiar. It is only when she finally meets her idol and they begin to have a relationship that May realises how completely different even this world is, with its endless supply of WAGs, intrusive public adulation and media interest. When the press attention becomes overwhelming May decides to hide out back at her island home, and taking her aunt with her, she finds out that it’s easier to go forwards than go back. The cosy life she came from will never be the same again.
All rights available
I’m Imogen picture book for children (forthcoming)
World rights: Chicken House