Clare Whitfield

Last updated
Clare Whitfield
Born
Clare Riley

1978 (age 46–47)
Alma mater
Years active2019–present
SpouseDuncan Whitfield
Children1
Website clarewhitfieldbooks.com

Clare Riley Whitfield (born 1978) is an English historical novelist. Her debut novel People of Abandoned Character (2020) won the Goldsboro Books Glass Bell Award. Her third novel Poor Girls (2024) was shortlisted for the CWA Historical Dagger.

Contents

Early life

Clare Riley was born the youngest of four and grew up on the St Helier estate in Morden, South London and then moved to Sutton. Whitfield studied dance and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Visual and Performing Arts from Middlesex University. [1] [2] She began her career in publishing and marketing. In her 30s, she completed a Master of Arts (MA) in Creative and Critical Writing at the University of Winchester. [3]

Career

In 2019, Whitfield signed her first publishing deal with Head of Zeus (a Bloomsbury Books imprint), [4] through which she published her debut novel People of Abandoned Character in 2020. The Gothic novel follows a Victorian trainee nurse Susannah who begins to suspect her husband is Jack the Ripper. [5] People of Abandoned Character won the 2021 Goldsboro Books Glass Bell Award. It was also shortlisted for the Debut Crown at the Historical Writers Association (HWA) Awards.

This was followed by Whitfield's second novel The Gone and the Forgotten, also published via Head of Zeus in 2022. Set in 1993 Shetland, the novel takes the theme of family secrets, inspired by Whitfield's own discovery that her father was the product of an affair between her paternal grandmother and a Canadian soldier. [6] [7]

Whitfield signed two further books with Head of Zeus in October 2022. [8] The first of these was her third historical novel Poor Girls, published in 2024, [9] which follows a 1920s London crime gang of women called the Forty Elephants. [10] Poor Girls was shortlisted for the Historical Dagger at the 2025 Crime Writers' Association (CWA) Awards.

Personal life

Whitfield lives in Southampton with her husband Duncan Whitfield, a tattoo artist. She has a daughter. [6]

In 2016, Whitfield was diagnosed with Hashimoto's disease (hyperthyroidism). [7] After her Glass Bell Award win, she sought an autism spectrum assessment. [11]

Bibliography

Novels

Accolades

YearAwardCategoryTitleResultRef.
2021 Goldsboro Books Glass Bell Award People of Abandoned CharacterWon [12]
Historical Writers Association (HWA) AwardsDebut CrownShortlisted [13]
2025 Crime Writers' Association (CWA) Awards Historical Dagger Poor GirlsShortlisted [14]

References

  1. ↑ Clare (6 August 2025). "Q&A with Clare Whitfield". Writers & Artists. Retrieved 31 August 2025.
  2. ↑ Wilson, Carter (12 August 2021). "Making It Up with Clare Whitfield, author of People of Abandoned Character". Making It Up. Retrieved 31 August 2025.
  3. ↑ "University of Winchester graduate secures publishing deal". University of Winchester. 28 November 2019. Retrieved 2 October 2024.
  4. ↑ Bayley, Sian (20 October 2019). "HoZ snares Whitfield's Jack the Ripper debut in two-book deal". The Bookseller. Retrieved 2 October 2024.
  5. ↑ Sheridan, Doreen (5 May 2021). "Book Review: People Of Abandoned Character by Clare Whitfield". Criminal Element. Retrieved 2 October 2024.
  6. 1 2 Sally (18 August 2022). "Meet the author: The Gone And The Forgotten writer, Clare Whitfield". The Sunday Post. Retrieved 2 October 2024.
  7. 1 2 "Clare Whitfield, author of The Gone and Forgotten shares seven things she'd like her readers to know". Female First. 9 June 2022. Retrieved 2 October 2024.
  8. ↑ Fraser, Katie (26 October 2022). "Head of Zeus takes two historical novels from Whitfield in exclusive submission". The Bookseller. Retrieved 4 October 2024.
  9. ↑ Senior, Antonia; Rennison, Nick (16 November 2024). "New historical fiction for November — revenge in the Renaissance Italy". The Sunday Times. Retrieved 23 December 2024.
  10. ↑ "We need to embrace both aspects of ourselves – male and female, shadow and light". Bloomsbury. 30 May 2025. Retrieved 5 September 2025.
  11. ↑ Whitfield, Clare (9 June 2022). "I grew up feeling like an outsider – until a midlife diagnosis changed my life". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2 October 2024.
  12. ↑ Comerford, Ruth (1 October 2021). "Whitfield wins Goldsboro Books Glass Bell Award for 'compelling' debut". The Bookseller. Retrieved 21 September 2024.
  13. ↑ "The winners! The HWA Crown Awards 2021". Historia. 24 November 2021. Retrieved 5 October 2024.
  14. ↑ Brown, Lauren (29 May 2025). "Asako Yuzuki, Anna Mazzola and MW Craven shortlisted for CWA Daggers 2025". The Bookseller. Retrieved 23 July 2025.
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