Joanna Briscoe

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Joanna Briscoe is a British novelist.

Born in London, much of her childhood was spent in rural villages in the West Country. She attended University College London and worked for several years as a freelance journalist.

Her first novel Mothers and Other Lovers, in which the teenage Eleanor who tries to escape from a stultifying rural life only to fall in love with her mother's new female friend, won a Betty Trask Award. Briscoe spent a lot of time in New York, researching her second novel Skin (runner-up for the Encore Award) which explored the plastic surgery and the psychological tool taken on women by the beauty industry. Her third novel, the psychological thriller Sleep With Me published in July 2005 is, according to author and critic Jonathan Coe '… a beautifully written and emotionally candid novel which also happens to be a page-turner'. It has been published in several languages and was shortlisted for the Prince Maurice Award. Briscoe's short stories have featured in several anthologies. She contributing widely to numerous publications, including the Guardian, the Independent, The Observer, and the Sunday Times and broadcast on BBC Radio 4.