Meet Charity Norman
From unhappy schoolgirl to traveller, barrister to author. Learn more about the journey behind her stories.
My Story
Books have been my friends forever. Cats too, but let’s talk about the books. I was an anxious child who hid in the school library at lunchtimes, and read by torchlight for hours after bedtime. I dreaded school, so bribed myself to get dressed in the mornings: with each garment I put on, including each sock, I rewarded myself by reading one page of my book. I was always late for the bus.
I was born in Uganda to missionary parents, the youngest of seven children, and brought up in vicarages in Yorkshire and inner-city Birmingham. At eighteen I returned to East Africa, working in Malawi, but returned to study law at Exeter University. Here – heaven knows why, because I proved to be a terrible soldier – I joined the Officers’ Training Corps, which involved being yelled at while trudging around mountainous bogs. The diverse landscapes and people of those first two decades of my life have stayed with me, and seeped into my stories.
I’d just qualified as a barrister when, crossing the Sahara desert on an ancient Bedford lorry, I struck up a friendship with the driver-mechanic. He was a New Zealander called Tim, with an oil-spattered smile, who at the age of twenty-three was driving a mixed bag of passengers from London to Victoria Falls, a journey of about six months. He rebuilt our gearbox in Tamanrasset, replaced a broken axle in the Mountains of the Moon. He followed me back to England. And Reader, I married him.
For fifteen years I worked as a criminal and family barrister, mainly out of York and Newcastle chambers. Tim became stay-at-home dad to our three children. I loved my work – still miss it - but it was all-consuming. Our four-year-old described me as ‘A posh woman in black, who runs in and out of the house and reads us stories’. So, in 2002, we made the decision to try a role reversal, cutting and pasting ourselves into a rural corner of New Zealand.
Here I juggled culture shock with family life, and began to pursue this naive obsession with writing books. I had no idea how difficult it would be. For years I wrote in every spare second: sitting in the car outside school, by the river while the children splashed, all through the night. On finishing my first novel I shut it in a drawer forever and began a second. To cut a very, very long story short: in 2010 Allen & Unwin published my debut, Freeing Grace. That may sound like the end of the journey, but it was just the beginning. Seven more books have followed. The journey goes on, different every day.
Thank you for joining me on that journey. No really, I mean it. Some authors insist that they’d carry on writing even if they were marooned forever on a desert island, without hope of ever being read. Nope! For me, a story comes to life when it sparks in the imagination of a reader. And that’s you. So, thank for looking at my website, reading my books, commenting on my social media... Thank you for being the reason I write.
With love,
Charity Norman writes compelling psychological drama, exploring the behaviour of ordinary people when faced with extraordinary situations. Her storytelling is immersive, with vivid characterisation and impossible choices. Her eight novels to date delve into human extremes, from dementia to delusion, from a doomsday cult by a remote New Zealand lake to a siege in a London café. She’s not afraid to explore controversial or disturbing ideas where they reflect the real world.
After the Fall (Second Chances), was a Richard and Judy Book Club choice and World Book Night title. The New Woman (The Secret Life of Luke Livingstone) and The Secrets of Strangers were both BBC Radio 2 Book Club choices. She has frequently featured in crime, thriller and mystery award shortlists. The Secrets of Strangers and Home Truths were both shortlisted for Best International Fiction in the Ned Kelly awards. Her work is a regular fixture in New Zealand’s Ngaio Marsh Awards, where in 2023 Remember Me won the award for best novel.
When not frowning at her laptop or annoying her children, Charity is in demand as a public speaker, is patron of Between the Lines (the CHB Readers and Writers Festival) and involved with the Samaritans crisis helpline. She regularly appears at book events as a panelist or chair, and delivers creative writing workshops. She loves to meet and hear from readers, book groups, booksellers and fellow writers.
Charity’s currently working on her ninth novel, set on Dartmoor. To stay updated as to her progress, subscribe to her quarterly newsletter through the link below.
