During my degree my parents separated and my mum became homeless. It was during the recession, when things were just awful. Full of humour, warmth, and raw honesty ... a beautiful, uplifting testament to female friendship that will make you laugh and cry WOMAN Together with her best friend Sharon, Miv introduces us to a remarkable cast of characters in her local town: Omar, the shopkeeper who is raising his son Ishtiaq while battling the grief of losing his wife; Mr Ware, the teacher whose life and sense of self is slowly crumbling; and Helen, the young librarian who harbours dark secrets of her own. As the girls’ lives become intertwined with the subjects of their investigation, Miv begins to realise the complexity of the adult world around her—from the good to the bad. But as the risks grow greater, ripples start to shatter the fragile illusions that hold their world, and their community, together." Jennie said: “It’ll sound really trite, but I really did have a moment where I thought: ‘I’m nearing 50, and I’ve had this thing that I’ve wanted to do since I was child. If not now, then when?’

Godfrey was born and raised in Yorkshire and the novel was partly inspired by her father having worked alongside Peter Sutcliffe, the man eventually charged with the crimes of the Yorkshire Ripper. She is a former HR director of a FTSE100 company who left her career to write and is now a creative writing PhD student at Bristol University. Both parents are really proud that it’s about Yorkshire, because it’s not necessarily a place that is reflected in literature in abundance. Set in Yorskhire during the late 70s/early 80s 12 year old Miv isn’t having an easy time. Not only is the Yorkshire Ripper on the loose but closer to home her mum is suffering from depression and is absent from her life & her dad is thinking of moving them away. To distract from her troubles and to feel useful and grown up, Miv and her friend Sharon embark on a quest to catch the Ripper and start to investigate people in the local community.That’s interesting as it is easy to become unconscious to the need for learning. How do you keep yourself honest to that activity? It was on the first course that I put a post on the forum asking for a trusted reader. It was the best thing I could have done. It was through this post that I met Jennie. Peter Sutcliffe’s presence dominated Jennie’s early life, but it was only upon his arrest that she realised how closely their lives had touched. Her mechanic father worked with Sutcliffe, frequently servicing the lorries he drove.

Rather a treat ... this novel is less about death than it is about life - the messy unpredictability, hideous unfairness and perplexity of it, as well as its one magnificent certainty: love. THE SUNDAY TIMES

This blogpost is for anyone in the position of querying agents/pitching their book who struggles with identifying comp titles. I know that for some writers, providing comps is like writing a synopsis; a necessary task, but one to be hated and feared. Writing the book was a homecoming and it’s fantastic to be showcasing my home area and people,” Jennie said.

How did Catherine Neman write a book about dying that is so luminously alive? Earthy, funny, and terrifyingly honest - this is a book with heart and guts and all the other goopy gravt we need to stay among the living. A radical delight. RUFI THORPE Think about film and television too – it’s all writing – and who wouldn’t want to read Succession in book form (for example). My current WIP has a Happy Valley vibe to it, and I’m very happy with that.

Everyday leadership is far more subtle than corporate leadership. Is it a conscious or subconscious thing?

Carr, formerly part of the London Library Emerging Author scheme, revealed how a chance discovery about a time in Mary Stuart’s life led her to explore the friendships and loves of the fated monarch. The Tower, a feminist historical debut set during Mary Queen of Scots’ imprisonment in Lochleven Castle, is out in February 2024. Not using the biggest selling book of the year/decade as your only comp – it paints you into a corner and there’s a fine line between confidence and arrogance, tread it carefully. Plot/structure –regardless of the characters, is there any similarity in how the books works/is structured? E.g., feminist retellings of Greek myths. I think the answers are always inside – so maybe leadership is about following these and ignoring the ‘shoulds’.

I grew up in a small town and there were so many of the ‘personalities’ I could identify with. Miv really stands out and is a character that will stay with me. Jennie perfectly captures the uncertainty and awkwardness of adolescence when you start to discover that adults are less than perfect and begin to understand a bit more about the world while still trying to figure out who you are and how to be. I thought about what the policeman had said about structure, and then about Aunty Jean and her notebook, and the idea I had hardened like toffee. I knew exactly what we needed to do. Devastatingly humorous and humorously devastating, We All Want Impossible Things is an unbelievably brilliant and funny book about friendship, family, food, sex, and death. Catherine Newman serves up a masterclass in narrative - you'll stay up late devouring every word. KATHERINE HEINY, author of EARLY MORNING RISER and STANDARD DEVIATIONA heartwarming tale about the power of human connection, written with empathy, warmth and care. To read it is to feel that little bit better about life' ELIZABETH DAY Interestingly, I’ve always said I’d be an author, since childhood. I feel as though I had an inner knowing about where I was meant to be and what I was meant to be doing. My biggest lesson has been to really strip away all the ‘shoulds’ and the things that society expects of you, for example “you should focus on your career”; “you need to make money”. You know when you just know a book is going to be huge, that a talented new author has burst on the scene?? Well, here we have it. First of all, the characterisation is exemplary. I love Miv and she’s an unforgettable character and yes, you could say she’s obsessive but she’s only looking for distraction from difficulties at home. Miv has good instincts even if she doesn’t entirely understand what she sees which is certainly true at the start when her naivety is clear to see but not at the end. Her friendships are a thing of beauty especially with the lovely Sharon, the “Terrible Twosome” and their friendship is wonderful. It isn’t all plain sailing by any stretch as they witness some cruelty and meanness that beggars belief but sadly is all too believable. All the characters spring to life, even the ones you’d rather didn’t. Jo Nadin is Jennie’s PhD supervisor, a Senior Lecturer in the University’s English Department and an author of several successful books. She said: “I’m thrilled for Jennie, but not at all surprised. Her writing is touching, funny and insightful. I can’t wait to see it in print.” And if you really struggle with this, I would start by thinking about the last book you read, or any book you’re not attached to emotionally, and come up with comp titles for it using the prompts in this blogpost. You can even use the classics for this - and have fun with it. There is no right or wrong.