Sara Sheridan

Sara Sheridan is a celebrated Scottish author, activist, and historical novelist, born in Edinburgh in 1968. Educated at Trinity College Dublin, she has written over 20 books, including both historical fiction and crime noir. She is best known for the Mirabelle Bevan Mysteries, a cosy‑crime series set in 1950s Brighton, and her stand‑alone Georgian/Victorian era novels such as The Secret Mandarin, Secret of the Sands, On Starlit Seas, and The Fair Botanists, which won Waterstone’s Scottish Book of the Year in 2022 Books from Scotland+15+15+15. A vocal advocate for women in history, her non‑fiction Where Are the Women? was recognized among the David Hume Institute’s Books of the Year in 2019 QuoteTab+7Sara Sheridan+7+7.

Sheridan frequently explores themes of feminism, archives, and cultural memory, blending rigorous research with richly drawn characters. Her novels are known for immersive historical detail—often informed by primary source materials—and for transporting readers with lush sense of place and time. She has also written children’s books, radio plays for BBC Radio 4 (including Robert Burns: His Psychotherapy and Cure), and TV tie‑in works for popular historical dramas +6+6Sara Sheridan+6.

She is known for insightful and evocative quotes that reveal her reverence for history and storytelling. As she notes: “To me, reading through old letters and journals is like treasure hunting. Somewhere in those faded, handwritten lines there is a story … packed away in a dusty old box for years.” +3Goodreads+3A-Z Quotes+3 She also reflects: “Without archives many stories of real people would be lost, and along with those stories, vital clues that allow us to reflect and interpret our lives today.” QuoteFancy+3A-Z Quotes+3Empery Quotes+3 Another highlights her writing research process: “Historical fiction of course is particularly research‑heavy. The details of everyday life are there to trip you up … Things we take for granted … can lead to tremendous mistakes.” Empery Quotes+2A-Z Quotes+2QuoteFancy+2

Let me know if you’d like more about her novels, activism, or her creative process!