About Louise

I'm a working-class writer, editor, and former indie publisher. I went to a less than ambitious comprehensive school; I left at sixteen and didn't do A levels or go to university. I did eventually get one A level in English Literature (I took the exams while heavily pregnant with my oldest child) followed by a literature degree via the Open University at the age of forty-two, after twelve years of studying.

I've read for most of my life, apart from a few years in my late teens and early twenties when other interests took over... It wasn't until I reached my forties that I realised I could write a novel. A lack of confidence prevented me for too long. If you're working-class you will probably understand that feeling.

I'm the author of:

Mrs Sinclair's Suitcase (Hodder 2014)

A Life Between Us (Louise Walters Books 2017)

The Road to California (Louise Walters Books 2018)

The Hermit (Louise Walters Books 2022)

I am now currently working on two further novels. One will be the first in a planned series and I'm very excited about it. The characters seemed to arrive in my head fully-formed and are almost writing their own story. It's "literary-lite".

The other is a standalone novel about two middle-aged women and their long but sometimes difficult friendship. I describe the genre of this one as "chick-literary".

I founded Louise Walters Books in 2017. Facing the prospect of turning fifty in the November of that year and, clock ticking, I remember thinking, I need to do this now, if I'm gonna do it. So I did. Getting older brings its advantages; a certain recklessness and determination...

LWB was very small and proudly independent. I was fortunate in finding seven talented authors. I was a one-woman band; I project-managed the publication of each title and I edited all of them. I worked with a talented team of freelance professionals who designed my covers and interiors, and helped me with copy-editing. I fitted the publishing in alongside my own writing, and my freelance editorial work.

Imposter syndrome was a constant battle. I found myself operating in a world I wasn't really born into. The publishing industry is overwhelmingly middle-and-upper-class. Often I felt I didn't belong, and I think there is truth in that. My publishing, my titles and authors, were frequently over-looked. But I did it, for six years, with passion, commitment, and excellent taste, if I say so myself!