Rosie Alison

Writer - Fiction

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Photograph: Adrian Lourie

Books

Associate: Seren Adams

Books

Rosie Alison grew up in Yorkshire, and read English at Keble College, Oxford. She spent ten years directing television documentaries before becoming a film producer at Heyday Films. She is married with two daughters and lives in London. Her debut novel THE VERY THOUGHT OF YOU (2009), which made it onto the Amazon Rising Stars shortlist and was longlisted for the RNA Romantic Novel of the Year and the Prince Maurice Prize 2010, was shortlisted for the 2010 Orange Prize for Fiction.

Praise for THE VERY THOUGHT OF YOU (2009):

'One of the best debuts I've read in recent years' John Boyne

'Melancholic, mysterious and heartbreakingly gorgeous' The Times

'Elegantly constructed, with a plangent dying fall of a twist in the final scene' Telegraph

Fiction

Publication DetailsNotes
2009

Alma Books

Shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction 2010.

England, 31st August 1939: the world is on the brink of war. As Hitler prepares to invade Poland, thousands of children are evacuated from London to escape the impending Blitz. Torn from her mother, eight-year-old Anna Sands is relocated with other children to a large Yorkshire estate which has been opened up to evacuees by Thomas and Elizabeth Ashton, an enigmatic childless couple. Soon Anna gets drawn into their unravelling relationship, seeing things that are not meant for her eyes – and finding herself part-witness and part-accomplice to a love affair, with unforeseen consequences.

A story of love, loss and complicated loyalties, combining a sweeping narrative with subtle psychological observation, THE VERY THOUGHT OF YOU is a haunting and memorable debut.