Esther Freud

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Esther Freud is a British novelist. Born on 2 May 1963 in London, she is the daughter of painter Lucian Freud and his former partner Bernadine Freud and is the great-granddaughter of Sigmund Freud. Her father was notoriously generous with his favours, so she may have up to 40 half-siblings. Her only full sibling is her sister, fashion designer Bella Freud. Her uncle is the politician and comedian Sir Clement Freud, and through him she has two cousins in the media: Matthew (married to Elisabeth Murdoch) and broadcaster Emma.

They travelled with their hippie mother as small children, including in Morocco, and lived only sporadically in London as a child before returning at the age of sixteen to train as an actress. She trained as an actress at The Drama Centre has worked in television and theatre as both actress and writer. Her novels include the semi-autobiographical Hideous Kinky, which was adapted into a film starring Kate Winslet. She is also the author of The Wild, Gaglow, The Sea House and the forward of The Summer Book by Tove Jansson.

Esther Freud was named as one of the 20 'Best of Young British Novelists' by Granta magazine in 1993. Her novels have been translated into thirteen languages. She is also the co-founder of the women's theatre company, Norfolk Broads, with Kitty Aldridge.

She is married to actor David Morrissey, with whom she has three children. She lives in London and has a second home in Southwold. The nearby village of Walberswick is the setting for her latest novel, The Sea House, in which it is thinly disguised as 'Steerborough'.