Fran Dorricott Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Fran Dorricott

Based in Derby, England, Fran Dorricott (aka Francesca May) lives with family, cat and dogs. Her writing is mostly gothic and inclusive stories and her process includes drinking copious amounts of tea.

Fran has a day-job as a bookseller, working in the Waterstones branch in Derby. Her not so subtle reason for working as a bookseller is not a surprise and probably would be like the rest of us It’s a ridiculously easy way to have access to feed our book-buying addictions.

Ms. Dorricott grew up in central England and studied creative writing at the University of East Anglia. She also attended the City University of London and there she received recognition for her MA in Creative Writing.
Ms. Dorricott spent her English countryside idyllic childhood devouring fantasy books and cooking potions from her herb garden in her back yard. She commits houseplant-cide, killing plants if she touches them. She does, however, excel in writing novels, set in gothic mansions, about witchcraft, and about queer love.

The first novel that was published by Ms. Dorricott was After the Eclipse. The inspiration for this story came from watching the solar eclipse in 2015. She started thinking about how horrible it would be to have a beautiful natural event spoiled or wiped from your mind by something awful. The worst would be to have to re-live that even over again.

In After the Eclipse, sixteen years ago during the darkest point of a solar eclipse, eleven year old Olive was abducted from the town of Bishop’s Green and never seen again. Her older sister Cassie was supposed to be watching her and the enduring guilt of it has weighed on her since that day.

Olive’s abduction broke her family. Her dad left them and started a new family. Her mom couldn’t handle the grief and later committed suicide. Cassie went to live with her grandparents in Bishop’s Green.

The abduction spurred Cassie to become an investigative journalist. Now Cassie is back in Bishop’s Green to help care for her ailing grandmother and she’s dreading the upcoming solar eclipse.

After another total eclipse another eleven year old girl goes missing and shortly after another girl. Cassie suspects the two abductions are connected to Olive’s abduction. But she needs proof and time is running out. She’s determined to solve this crime and get the two girls safely home.

Cassie starts having panic attacks and she’s becoming obsessed with what she sees as connections between the three girls’ disappearances. She’s tormented as she hunts down multiple suspects and too many false leads.

To underscore her efforts, she is receiving anonymous warnings to leave it alone. The story bounces between 1999 and the present and shows the torment and confusion Cassie did and is experiencing now.

When the COVID lockdowns of 2020 were enacted in Great Britain Ms. Dorricott, like the rest if the world, had to stay confined to her home. It was rough when she was furloughed from her much loved bookseller job.

Ms. Dorricott decided to make the most of her enforced increased free-time and write her third novel. The Lighthouse is a new Gothic suspense story set on an island in the upper north of Scotland. The mythology and folklore of Scotland drew her in and she decided to tap into its abundant ancient heritage.

In The Lighthouse six friends get together and rent an old lighthouse that’s been renovated but unbeknownst to them, has a bone chilling history. When they were deposited on the docks, the ferryman warned them the very isolated area has a hazardous shoreline and treacherous cliffs. The group is strongly advised not to go out at night but, of course, on the first night, they venture out to view the enticing Northern Lights. Their dream weekend turns into a nightmare when one of them goes missing.

Ms. Dorricott caught COVID and is now recovering from long-COVID symptoms. Due to the lockdown and then her health, she wasn’t able to travel to Scotland to research the country and the lighthouses there but she devoted an extensive amount of time researching information and watching videos on line.

When she researched and read stories of lighthouse keepers who went missing one story stood out. In December 1900 lighthouse keeper James Moore was delivered to Eilean Mor, a little island in the Flannan Isles in the Outer Hebrides of Northern Scotland.

James Moore was expecting to find two keepers in residence but instead he found the lighthouse door open, a half-eaten meal on the table, and furniture overturned. The keepers were nowhere to be found. A full search was launched but neither man was ever seen again.

In this novel, the setting and the lighthouse is an aggregate of the locations and lighthouses she researched. The enforced lockdown gave her the undivided time she needed to get the first draft done in SIX weeks.

Ms. Dorricott, who writes fantasy novels under her pen-name of Francesca May, likes switching between genres. It gives her a fresh take between projects and she can shift to the new genre with fresh eyes.

Ms. Dorricott answered some of the questions most authors are queried by readers. She derives story inspiration from many sources. Some of her favorites are music playlists, Pinterest boards, long showers, and very long walks with her herd of large dogs. These are all ways she uses to get the creative juices moving.

The most awesome things about being a writer is that it’s her JOB! She loves that she’s allowed and even encouraged, to make stuff up. The “amazing book community” is what excites her the most. The readers, other writers, and booksellers “all rock!”

Ms. Dorricott has this most important advice for aspiring writers: Never stop writing. Take your writing and yourself seriously. Of course perseverance and patience are needed to break in the business. She advises writers to give themselves permission to regard their writing as a job, not just a hobby.