Nicola Monaghan is an English

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire to ...

and author of ''

The Killing Jar "The Killing Jar" is a song written, produced and recorded by English rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees. It was released in 1988 as the second single from the band's ninth studio album, ''Peepshow''. Music and reception The song is an uptem ...

'', ''Starfishing'' and ''The Okinawa Dragon''. She grew up in Nottingham, England, and gave up a career in finance to pursue an MA in creative writing at Nottingham Trent University.

Writing career

Monaghan was listed in

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

's New Year 2006 list of rising talent and won a

Betty Trask Award The Betty Trask Prize and Awards are for first novels written by authors under the age of 35, who reside in a current or former Commonwealth nation. Each year the awards total £20,000, with one author receiving a larger prize amount, called the ...

, the Author's Club Best First Novel Prize and the

Waverton Good Read Award The Waverton Good Read Award was founded in 2003 by villagers in Waverton, Chester, England, and is based on ''Le Prix de la Cadière d'Azur'', a literary prize awarded by a Provençal village. Adult debut novels written by UK residents and pu ...

for her debut. Her second novel ''Starfishing'' and novella ''The Okinawa Dragon'' came out in 2008. She has also had stories published in anthologies and magazines, including ''Sunday Night and Monday Morning'' (Five Leaves), ''Cool Brittania'' (Wachenbach) and online magazine Pulp.Net Monaghan has written screenplays for Council Child Productions, including "Starcross" and "Margie's Garden."

''
The Killing Jar "The Killing Jar" is a song written, produced and recorded by English rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees. It was released in 1988 as the second single from the band's ninth studio album, ''Peepshow''. Music and reception The song is an uptem ...
''

The Killing Jar was Monaghan's first award-winning novel and was inspired by the lives she witnessed on the council estates where she grew up.
New Zealand ListenerEast London and West Essex GuardianThe Independent

''Starfishing''

Monaghan's second novel was published by

Chatto and Windus Chatto & Windus is an imprint of Penguin Random House that was formerly an independent book publishing company founded in London in 1855 by John Camden Hotten. Following Hotten's death, the firm would reorganize under the names of his business ...

in March 2008. It is set in the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London fr ...

in the late 1990s and concerns Frankie Cavanagh, a

LIFFE The London International Financial Futures and Options Exchange (LIFFE, pronounced 'life') was a futures exchange based in London. In 2014, following a series of takeovers, LIFFE became part of Intercontinental Exchange, and was renamed ICE F ...

futures trader, working and playing hard and trying to keep up with the boys. She starts an affair with her boss, Tom, and the two go down a destructive route together. The book is dark, with gothic overtones, and some subtle references to Mary Shelley's

Frankenstein ''Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' is an 1818 novel written by English author Mary Shelley. ''Frankenstein'' tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who creates a sapient creature in an unorthodox scientific ex ...

. As with Monaghan's previous work, the imagery is rich and very sensual, and the narrative fast-paced. The story takes place as the financial world begins to be taken over by electronic trading on screens and traders struggle to cope with this transition.

''The Okinawa Dragon''

Monaghan's third book is a novella published by Five Leaves Publications, also in 2008. Again written in a pacey, first-person voice, it tells the story of Jack, a card trader. He is the ultimate alpha male with high powered customers all over the world. One of Jack's richest clients wants to own a very rare trading card, The Okinawa Dragon, but it belongs to a Japanese businessman who is not prepared to sell. Jack travels to Japan to "acquire" the card.

Bibliography

*''The Killing Jar'' (2007) *''Starfishing'' (2010) *''The Okinawa Dragon'' (2010) *''The Night Lingers and Other Stories'' (2015) *''The Troll: Book 1'' (2015) *''The Troll: Book 2'' (2015) *''The Troll: Book 3'' (2015) *''Dead Flowers'' (2019)

References

External links

Nicola Monaghan’s websiteQuestions and Answers with Nicola Monaghan - Hortorian.comThe Betty Trask Awards

Independent: Rising Stars of 2006Independent 50 Hot Books summer 2006The National Academy of Writing
{{DEFAULTSORT:Monaghan, Nicola 21st-century English novelists People from Nottingham Alumni of the University of York Academics of the University of Nottingham 1971 births Living people