I was born in Windsor in 1988, and have an older sister, Lucy Hounsom, who is a fantasy author. (By complete and bizarre coincidence, our debut novels were published on the exact same day. Weird).
Little known fact: I went to theatre school and acted professionally as a child. My first ever job was when I was nine, playing Elizabeth Hall in the RSC’s The Herbal Bed, directed by Michael Attenborough. I was in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) but my biggest film role was probably playing Young Madame Giry in The Phantom of the Opera (2004).
Although I had intended to pursue a career as a dancer or actor, when I was sixteen I changed my mind and decided to do A Levels instead. It was one of the best decisions I ever made. Thanks to the encouragement of my tutors I ended up applying to universities, and being offered a place to study English at Newnham College, Cambridge.
I’m the author of The Confectioner’s Tale (2015), Where the Wild Cherries Grow (2017), The Secrets Between Us (2018) and An Echo of Scandal (2019), published by Transworld in the UK, PanMacmillan in the US, and translated into over a dozen languages. I also write folklore-inspired romance under the name Lili Hayward; my novel The Cat of Yule Cottage was published by Hodder in 2016.
My short stories have previously been published by Short Fiction Journal, My Weekly and Candis magazine, among others.
I live in a bright blue house in Bristol with my partner. My parents and sister live in Devon, where I can often be found visiting. In my spare time, I’m the tenant of a rather wild and wishful allotment.
I am represented by Ki Agency. For all rights enquiries please contact Meg Davis.
Laura Madeleine 