Freya North (born 21 November 1967) is a British writer, active since 1996, and one of the precursors of

chick lit Chick lit is a term used to describe a type of popular fiction targeted at younger women. Widely used in the 1990s and 2000s, the term has fallen out of fashion with publishers while writers and critics have rejected its inherent sexism. Novels id ...

. Her novels, which have been critical and financial successes, centre on strong female characters and their raunchy exploits.

Biography

In 1991, she gave up writing her PhD in Art History in order to start writing her first novel, ''Sally'', about a woman embarking on a no-strings erotic affair. Top agent Jonathan Lloyd at Curtis Brown Ltd put the novel into a five-publisher bidding war which resulted in a three-book deal for a six-figure sum. ''Sally'' was published in 1996. ''Chloe'' followed soon after, and tells of a woman travelling around the four countries of the UK during the four seasons of the year and her various sensual exploits en route. ''Polly'', about a teacher exchange trip between America and England, was published in 1998 and ''Cat'', about a sports journalist covering the

Tour de France The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage bicycle race primarily held in France, while also occasionally passing through nearby countries. Like the other Grand Tours (the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España), it consists ...

, in 2000. Further titles were ''Fen'' (2001), set in the art world and ''Pip'', about a female clown (2004). Her seventh novel, ''Love Rules'' (2005), about whether one listens to one's head or follows one's heart, was published in 2005. ''Home Truths'', which reunites the McCabe characters from earlier novels Cat, Fen and Pip, was published in 2006. In 2008, Freya won the

Romantic Novel of the Year Award The Romantic Novel of the Year Award is an award for romance novels since 1960, presented by Romantic Novelists' Association, and since 2003, the novellas, also won the Love Story of the Year (now RoNA Rose Award). In 2018, awards were given to ...

for her ninth novel, ''Pillow Talk'', which reunites childhood sweethearts Petra and Arlonow a sleepwalker and an insomniac. ''Pillow Talk'' was set in the North East of England, specifically in Teesside. ''Secrets'', Freya's tenth novel, also set in the North East, was published in 2009. Because the book's setting was the small Victorian resort of

Saltburn by the Sea Saltburn-by-the-Sea, commonly referred to as Saltburn, is a seaside town in Redcar and Cleveland, North Yorkshire, England, around south-east of Hartlepool and southeast of Redcar. It lies within the Historic counties of England, historic bo ...

and featured the famous

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Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

, the author was subsequently invited to become an Ambassador for the region.

Bibliography

Single novels

* ''Sally'' (1996) * ''Chloe'' (1997) * ''

Polly Polly is a given name, most often feminine, which originated as a variant of Molly (name), Molly (a diminutive of Mary (name), Mary). Polly may also be a short form of names such as Polina (given name), Polina, Polona (given name), Polona, Paula (g ...

'' (1998) * ''Love Rules'' (2005) * ''Pillow Talk'' (2007) * ''Secrets'' (2009) * ''Chances'' (2011) * ''Rumours'' (2012) * ''The Way Back Home ''(2014) * ''The Turning Point '' (2015) * ''Little Wing '' (2022)

McCabe Sisters

# ''Cat'' (2000) # ''Fen'' (2001) # ''Pip'' (2004) # ''Home Truths'' (2006)

Stories

* "In and Out" (2000) Short Story published in ''Girls Night In''

References and sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:North, Freya 1967 births Living people British chick lit writers People educated at South Hampstead High School 20th-century English novelists 21st-century British novelists 20th-century English women writers 21st-century English women writers English women novelists