Nicci French Explained

Nicci French is the pseudonym of English husband-and-wife team Nicci Gerrard (born 10 June 1958) and Sean French (born 28 May 1959), who write psychological thrillers together.

Personal lives

Nicci Gerrard and Sean French were married in 1990. Since 1999 they have lived in Suffolk in East Anglia, England. Both have studied English literature at Oxford University.^[1] The couple have two daughters, Hadley and Molly, and Gerrard has two children from her first marriage, Edgar and Anna.

Biography

Nicci Gerrard

Nicola 'Nicci' Gerrard was born on 10 June 1958. She grew up in Worcestershire, together with her two sisters and her brother.

She was educated at The Alice Ottley School in Worcester. She then studied English literature at Oxford University and then an MPhil at Sheffield University in 1986.^[2] She went on to teach literature in Los Angeles and London. She founded a women's magazine, Women's Review, before becoming a freelance journalist. During that time she married and had two children. Following the failure of this first marriage, she met Sean French whilst working as editor for the New Statesman where French wrote a weekly column, but left when she was offered another job at The Observer.

In November 2014 her father John Gerrard died, his dementia having deteriorated significantly during a five-week stay in hospital for an unrelated problem and with very restricted visiting by his family. As a result of this Gerrard launched John's Campaign for extended visiting rights for carers of patients with dementia.^{[3] [4]}

Since February 2019, Gerrard has supported the 'Save Our Libraries Essex' (SOLE) campaign, speaking out against the proposed closures of libraries by Essex County Council.

Sean French

Julian Sean French was born on 28 May 1959 in Bristol, the son of Philip French,^[5] a radio producer and film critic, and his Swedish-born wife Kersti (née Molin). He was, like his two younger brothers Patrick and Karl, educated at William Ellis secondary school in north London before studying English literature at Oxford University. The couple never met while there. While at Oxford University, French won a young writers’ contest organised by Vogue, and subsequently became a journalist.

In 1987 he gained his first column and until the end of 2000 he wrote a column for the New Statesman. His solo novel Start from Here was published in 2004.

Works

as Nicci French

• The Memory Game (1997)
• The Safe House (1998)
• Killing Me Softly (1999)
• Beneath the Skin (2000)
• The Red Room (2001)
• The People Who Went Away (2001), a short story published as a novella for promotional purposes^[6]
• Grieve (2002), a short story published in Dutch as Verlies on the occasion of Thriller Month (Maand van het Spannende Boek).^[7]
• Land of the Living (2003)
• Secret Smile (2003), basis of British TV series Secret Smile.^[8]
• Catch Me When I Fall (2005)
• Losing You (2006)
• Until It's Over (2007)
• Speaking Ill of the Dead (2008), a short story published for promotional purposes^[9]
• What to Do When Someone Dies (2008)
• Complicit (2009), published in the United States as The Other Side of the Door (2010)
• Blue Monday (A Frieda Klein Novel) (2011)
• Tuesday's Gone (A Frieda Klein Novel) (2013)
• Waiting for Wednesday (A Frieda Klein Novel) (2013)
• Thursday's Child (A Frieda Klein Novel) (2014)
• Friday on My Mind (A Frieda Klein Novel) (2015)
• Saturday Requiem (A Frieda Klein Novel) (2016), published in the United States as Dark Saturday (2017)
• Sunday Morning Coming Down (A Frieda Klein Novel) (2017), published in the United States as Sunday Silence
• The Day of the Dead (A Frieda Klein Novel) (2018)
• The Lying Room (2019)
• House of Correction (2020)
• The Unheard (2021)
• The Favour (2022)
• Has Anyone Seen Charlotte Salter? (2023)

Works solely by Sean French

• Patrick Hamilton: A Life (1993), biography
• The Imaginary Monkey (1994), novel
• Bardot (1995), biography
• The Dream of Dreams (1996), novel
• Jane Fonda: A Biography (1998), biography
• Start from Here (2004), novel.

Works solely by Nicci Gerrard

• Things we knew were true (Michael Joseph, 2003) – featuring teenage sisters,
• Soham (2004)
• Solace (2005)
• Simple in the Moonlight (2006)
• The Moment you were Gone (2007)
• The Middle Place (2008)
• The Winter House (2009)
• Missing Persons (2011)
• The Twilight Hour (2014)
• What Dementia Teaches Us About Love (2019)^[10]

External links

• Official website (archived)
• Nicci French at Penguin Books

Notes and References

1. Web site: Latest Nicci French is clever and compulsive reading. Creer. Anna. 2 November 2019. The Canberra Times. en. 28 April 2020.
2. Web site: Where are they now? Professor Adam Hart - News - Alumni - The University of Sheffield. University of. Sheffield. www.sheffield.ac.uk.
3. News: Fox. Killian. Gerrard. Nicci. Nicci Gerrard: 'Dementia is more scary when you try not to think about it'. The Observer. 16 March 2019. 7 April 2019.
4. News: Gerrard. Nicci. On my father's dementia and the joy of dancing. New Statesman. 3 April 2019. 7 April 2019.
5. The Atlantic Companion to Literature in English, New Delhi: Atlantic Publishers, 2007, p.190
6. Web site: International Fiction Bestsellers. September 2003. Publishing Trends. 16 January 2008. https://web.archive.org/web/20080211095140/http://www.publishingtrends.com/copy/03/0309/0309intl.html. 11 February 2008. dead.
7. Web site: Verlies by Nicci French. www.goodreads.com. 25 March 2022.
8. Web site: David-Tennant.com. https://web.archive.org/web/20140827143701/http://www.david-tennant.com/2009/id121.html. dead. 27 August 2014.
9. Web site: Crime Drama | Alibi Channel. Uktv.co.uk. 6 March 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20121013223605/http://uktv.co.uk/alibi/homepage/sid/5003/niccifrench. 13 October 2012. dead.
10. Web site: What Dementia Teaches Us About Love. 15 December 2020. www.goodreads.com.