Clare Mackintosh

Clare Mackintosh is a British author. A former policewoman, her debut novel I Let You Go was a Richard & Judy book club pick.^[1] It won Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award in 2016, beating J K Rowling writing as Robert Galbraith.^[2] In October 2016, the French translation of I Let You Go (Te Laisser Partir) won "best international novel" at the Cognac Festival Prix du Polar awards.^[3] In March 2017 publisher Curtis Brown announced that I Let You Go has sold over one million copies worldwide.

Personal life

Mackintosh went to Royal Holloway University in Surrey,^[4] taking a degree in French and management, and spent a year in Paris as part of the course, working as a bilingual secretary. She joined the police force upon graduation.^[5] She was posted on promotion to Chipping Norton as town sergeant before becoming Thames Valley Police’s operations inspector for Oxfordshire. Mackintosh spent 12 years in the police force before leaving in 2011 to become a full-time writer. She is founder and director of the Chipping Norton Literary Festival and has become patron of the Silver Star Society, a charity supporting the John Radcliffe Hospital's work with families facing difficult pregnancies.^[6]

In 2006, Mackintosh delivered twin boys prematurely. Her son Alex contracted meningitis and died when he was a few weeks old. When her surviving son was 15 months old, Mackintosh gave birth to a second set of twins.^[7]

Bibliography

1. I Let You Go (Sphere, 2014)
2. I See You (Sphere, 2016)

External links

• Official website

References