Having realised early on that books are pretty much the best things in life, I have been lucky enough to spend my entire career working with them. My first job after leaving university was as a bookseller in a bookshop on Charing Cross Road, London and then I worked for eleven years in publishing. Following redundancy in 2009 I was thrown into the world of stay-at-home motherhood. Realising that my brain was starting to fester like an old potato in the bottom of the vegetable tray, I enrolled on a creative writing course and decided to try and write my first novel. It took me two years to finish it and another two to get my first publishing deal. In July 2013 Not Quite Perfect was published and I enjoyed a rather exciting summer as it reached number one in the Kindle bestsellers.
I have since written seven other novels including the USA Today bestseller, The Brilliant Life of Eudora Honeysett. I love to write about characters with whom readers can make a real connection and about subjects we can all relate to – parenthood, love, families, grief, friendship, music, laughter. I want to carry readers along in a story which makes them laugh and shed the odd tear but which ultimately leaves them feeling uplifted and hopeful. These are the stories I love to read and so I write for myself and the thousands of readers just like me. It’s quite honestly the best job in the world.
Annie Lyons 
Thank you for following my blog 🙂 I really hope we’ll get to meet up some time in the near future. At an RNA do perhaps?
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That would be lovely – will you be at the Conference?
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I will! See you there?
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Thank you for the share, Bernadette – I really appreciate your support! x
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Have you spent much time with older women? Perhaps if you did you might have more of an idea of what older people think before you write a book on how their best bet is dying!
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Thank you for getting in touch, Elizabeth. I have spent a great deal of time with older women. My own mother died while I was writing this story in fact. I’m not sure if you’ve read the whole book but it isn’t in fact about dying. It’s about living whilst also being able to have honest conversations about death. There is no suggestion that death is anyone’s best bet.
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Dear Mrs. Lyons,
I just finished your Air Raid Book Club, the first book of yours I have read. I enjoyed most of it very much. One thing that puzzled me was how the book store never offered anyone a Narnia book or any other book by C.S. Lewis. During World War II , He did the talks for the BBC that turned into Mere Christianity, which is one of my favorite books of all time. So he was well known in England and the Narnia books would have been great for the children in the air raid shelter. Since you recommended Sayers and Christie, who were both serious Christians, it doesn’t seem to be an anti Christian reason. So I was curious and wondered why? –Mrs. Crachi
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Thank you very much for your comment. I love the Narnia stories and would have liked to include them but unfortunately, they weren’t published until the fifties. I’m glad you enjoyed the story.
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I am 80 years old and I loved the book The Brilliant Life of Eudora Honeysett. It was honest about one’s feelings about getting old and having the character of Rose put some fun and laughter into the whole thing! Thanks!
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Thank you Marlene. I’m so pleased you enjoyed Eudora’s story! x
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