People Before

Charlotte Northedge is the joint editor of Guardian Review and Head of Books for the Guardian. Charlotte has previously written for a range of newspapers and magazines, including the Guardian, Psychologies and Cosmopolitan. She has an MA in Modern and Contemporary Literature from Birkbeck and is an alumni of the Curtis Brown Creative writing course. Her first novel, The House Guest, was published in 2021 and received glowing reviews.

‘This is every bit as accomplished as Northedge’s debut The House Guest, with the same precise and finely tuned use of language, by no means always a given in the genre.’ FINANCIAL TIMES‘Charlotte Northedge creates a riveting psychological study of self-deception and creeping dread.’ THE SUNDAY TIMES‘Creepy, atmospheric and cleverly plotted, an excellent winter read.’ CATHERINE COOPER‘Twisty, claustrophobic and deliciously dark, this is the perfect winter chiller’ ELLERY LLOYD‘This twisty thriller is jam-packed with tense moments and a growing sense of unease’ GOOD HOUSEKEEPING‘Northedge is good at portraying the distinction between the real insecurities of some young women and the minor problems of the privileged type’ DAILY MAIL‘Charlotte Northedge turns the psychological thumbscrews with relish’ THE TIMES ‘Full of twists, The House Guest spirals towards its dark conclusion, wrong footing the increasingly uneasy reader at every turn.’ THE OBSERVER‘The tension slowly builds up to a heart-racing end.’ WOMAN’S OWN‘This is ace. Very acute on class, aspiration, women and status and all those agonising negotiations and anxieties’ SARAH PERRY, author of THE ESSEX SERPENT'The House Guest is that delicious kind of novel, a slow-burn thriller that carefully draws the reader in, catches fire in the middle and burns with an intensity until the end' FIONA CUMMINS‘A dark and intriguing debut that simmers with tension and unease’ LUCY CLARKE‘Dark, smart and classy – I was totally gripped’ GILLIAN MCALLISTER‘A deliciously dark and totally twisted look at the lengths some people will go to project a perfect life’ ERIN KELLY