Book Launch: 30th March at Bookhaus
This book has been a long time in the making and I’m delighted to announce it will be launched at Bristol’s lively and radical indie bookstore, Bookhaus.
What a cover!
In case you haven’t already seen it, here is the beautiful cover for The People’s Republic of Love, which is also now available to pre-order everywhere!
Arlo Knott in under two minutes
If you’d like to know what The Undoing of Arlo Knott is about and why I wrote it, you can find out by listening to the audio clip above. As first played by Caroline Martin on BBC Radio Somerset at 8:20am Sunday 6th July 2025. Available on BBC Sounds until early August. Find out more…
SRL signs The People’s Republic of Love
I’m delighted to share this news that THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF LOVE has been signed by award-winning, climate-positive publisher SRL. The book is about a shy tunnel engineer whose best friend is trapped on a reality television show, based in a shiny new country where popularity is prized above all else.
From Marginalia to Malago
It’s been a strange year – one of those authors go through sometimes – in which novel-writing has been slow or tricky, and instead I’ve done what I term the ‘marginalia’ of a writer’s life – other things that around the margins of writing actual books. So this year, I’ve been a mentor on the…
Upstream and downstream AI: Post-panel reflections
A couple of weeks ago I was kindly invited by talks organiser Altered State to join a panel on Artificial Intelligence (AI), considering whether it is “the end of the world as we know it”. I took the opportunity to brush up on my AI knowledge.
Brunel in a biographical micro fiction
Having enjoyed researching Isambard Kingdom Brunel for The People’s Republic of Love, I thought I’d take a rare venture into micro fiction, just to capture this fleeting yet fascinating episode in his life (a true story).
Retracing my steps
Most of the time authors carefully choose their settings, but sometimes the story just revs its engine and takes you off who-knows-where. Hence I found, completely by accident, this one little scene in The Undoing of Arlo Knott taking place at an old workplace of mine – Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre in Birmingham.
Starting small… a short story for Bristol Zoo
If you live in or near Bristol, you probably know that the famous zoo has finally closed its doors after 186 years. To mark this momentous end of an era, the zoo launched a short story and poetry competition, and I was lucky enough to win first prize in the adult fiction category.
Love, Narcissism and an Island Nation
The premise of my third book – about narcissism and celebrity culture – is potentially controversial. It was when I read The Narcissism Epidemic that I realised there was any scope whatsoever for questioning the mantra – so entrenched – that you have to love yourself before you can love anyone else. While I don’t want to argue against the value of valuing oneself, is this particular statement true? Aren’t there people with low self-esteem who still foster a deep love and admiration for others? If self-esteem really is a prerequisite, then what happens when it creeps towards the other end of the scale… towards narcissism, which is well known to be detrimental to relationships?
Hidden Gems: on the literary circuit
Four authors, all part of the writing collective Just Write Bristol have been busy running our popular ‘Hidden Gems’ event for literature festivals during lockdown.
Sign for our bookshops – perfect for Christmas shopping!
This lockdown, I’m taking part in #SignForOurBookshops, a national show of support from UK authors, urging people to keep buying through bookshops by offering exclusive signed bookplates. As you can see below I have some bespoke book plates (stickers that can be signed and attached to your book) designed to match the cover of The…
Coming up at Bristol Literature Festival
This is the year of online literary festivals – all the chit chat and all the literati you could want, and all from the comfort of your sofa. Bristol Literature Festival has a great programme, and you can catch me at a couple of free, online events too…
Lockdown lonesomeness, hope and isolation
I’m sure many writers have found that during lockdown they are pulled two ways.
Deep in the forest… I visited a book club
Earlier this week I braved the flooding to head into the Forest of Dean, where I was warmly welcomed by the Newnham Readers group, a book club set up by local librarian Margaret Ellis. The group chose The Undoing of Arlo Knott as their February read, and I went along to hear what they thought…
A bookish autumn
There have been so many book events over the last couple of months I’ve hardly been able to keep up! Needless to say it’s been great reading from The Undoing of Arlo Knott to new audiences, and getting into a lot of interesting chats with readers about the nature of time, quantum physics, snakes, superheroes…
Read at your own risk: Heroes and Villains
Get your tickets here We’re seemingly surrounded by villains and in desperate need of heroes. But how do authors create them and what can we learn from these timeless archetypes? Day: Wednesday 16th October Time: 7:30pm Venue: Max Minerva’s, 39 North View, BS6 7PY Tickets: £3 (redeemable on purchase of a book) About the authors Heather Child’s latest novel,…
What do the reviewers think of Arlo Knott?
Arlo himself may have raised some eyebrows, but in general (and to my delight) the blog tour was bursting with positive reviews. Check out a few of them below… “Child’s second novel, following the successful Everything About You, combines compassion and a fascinating premise to produce a moving time-slip romance . . . The Undoing of Arlo…
Arlo hits the high street
Arlo Knott is finally out in the world, having been launched at a sell-out event at Storysmith Books, Bristol. With fabulous hosting from Hugo award-winning sci-fi critic and publisher Cheryl Morgan, we talked about having an undo button for life, plus the power of hindsight, quantum physics and snakes and ladders. The room was packed…
Win a signed copy of THE UNDOING OF ARLO KNOTT
Be the first to get your hands on this new mind-bending novel, THE UNDOING OF ARLO KNOTT. There’s a signed copy waiting for the lucky winner…