Sara Collins is a Jamaican-born Caymanian-British novelist and former lawyer. She earned a

Costa Book Award The Costa Book Awards were a set of annual literary awards recognising English-language books by writers based in UK and Ireland. Originally named the Whitbread Book Awards from 1971 to 2005 after its first sponsor, the Whitbread company, then ...

for her 2019 historical fiction novel ''The Confessions of Frannie Langton''.

Early life and law

Collins was born in

Kingston, Jamaica Kingston is the capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long sand spit which connects the town of Port Royal and the Norman Manley Inter ...

. Her family fled to Grand Cayman in the

Cayman Islands The Cayman Islands () is a self-governing British Overseas Territory—the largest by population in the western Caribbean Sea. The territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, which are located to the ...

, the home of her paternal grandmother, when she was four in light of

political violence Political violence is violence which is perpetrated in order to achieve political goals. It can include violence which is used by a state against other states (war), violence which is used by a state against civilians and non-state actors (forced ...

following the 1976 Jamaican election. She attended boarding school in England at the age of 11. Collins went on to graduate in law from the

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 millio ...

. She worked for 17 years as a lawyer, during which time she jointly edited ''International Trust Disputes''. She was a partner and Head of Trust & Private Client in the Cayman Islands office of

Conyers Dill & Pearman Conyers is an international law firm. Their client base includes FTSE 100 and Fortune 500 companies, international finance houses and asset managers. The firm advises on law practiced in Bermuda, British Virgin Islands and the Cayman Islands. Co ...

Writing

Collins took a Master of Studies degree in creative writing at the Institute of Continuing Education,

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

in 2014-2016. While studying at Cambridge she was awarded the 2016

Michael Holroyd Sir Michael de Courcy Fraser Holroyd (born 27 August 1935) is an English biographer. Early life and education Holroyd was born in London, the son of Basil de Courcy Fraser Holroyd (a descendant of Sir George Sowley Holroyd, Justice of the King' ...

prize for non-fiction (or, as he termed it, "recreative writing") for her work ''Knocking on Walcott's Door'', described as "a form of literary autobiography". ''The Confessions of Frannie Langton'' takes the form of the deposition of a woman charged with murder, written for her trial at the

Old Bailey The Central Criminal Court of England and Wales, commonly referred to as the Old Bailey after the street on which it stands, is a criminal court building in central London, one of several that house the Crown Court of England and Wales. The s ...

in London in 1826. Frannie Langton had grown up as a slave on a Jamaican sugar plantation, where her slave-owner had employed her in his research "desperate to prove that Africans aren't human". She was given to George Benham and his French wife in London, and "Then, in unclear circumstances, the Benhams are murdered". The book was published in 2019 by

Viking Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

, who acquired it shortly before nine companies were due to bid for its rights. Reviewing the book in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'',

Natasha Pulley Natasha Pulley (born 4 December 1988) is a British author. She is best known for her debut novel, ''The Watchmaker of Filigree Street'', which won a Betty Trask Award. Education She was educated at Soham Village College, New College, Oxford, a ...

praised it and said "Between her historical research, Frannie's voice and a plot that never slows to a walk, the novel pulls the gothic into new territory and links it back to its origins." The reviewer in ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

'' calls the novel "a beguiling story with strong feminist overtones". Collins won the First Novel award in the 2019 Costa Book Awards. Collins was shortlisted for the 2020

McKitterick Prize The McKitterick Prize is a United Kingdom literary prize. It is administered by the Society of Authors. It was endowed by Tom McKitterick, who had been an editor of ''The Political Quarterly'' but had also written a novel which was never publ ...

, awarded by the Society of Authors to a debut novelist over the age of 40. In 2020,

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

announced that they had commissioned Collins to adapt ''The Confessions of Frannie Langton'' for television with Drama Republic; filming is expected to take place in London in 2021.

Personal life

Collins splits her time between

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and Cayman. She married Scottish lawyer Iain McMurdo in 2008. They were both single parents when they met at their law firm, McMurdo a widower with three daughters and Collins a divorcee with two.

Selected publications

* *

References

External links

* * ''Interview'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, Sara Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 21st-century British novelists Alumni of the London School of Economics Alumni of the University of Cambridge British women novelists Caymanian expatriates in England Costa Book Award winners Jamaican emigrants to the Cayman Islands People from Kingston, Jamaica