Susan Stokes-Chapman Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Susan Stokes-Chapman is a historical fiction novelist who has written some popular Georgian era works. Reading her works, readers can always expect to be blown away by the rich, lyrical prose that Susan usually combined with meticulous research. The author was born in Lichfield, the historic Georgian city where her love of the era was born. She would then live in Aberystwyth, the coastal town, for four years. During her time there, she went to college and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in English Literature and Education and then got a master’s degree in Creative Writing. Pandora, her debut novel that she published in 2021, would become a Sunday Times bestselling title and was long-listed for the Bath Novel Award and made the Lucy Cavendish Fiction Prize shortlist in 2020. She currently makes her home in North West Wales, where she lives with Bronte and Byron, her British shorthair cats.

Like many novelists, Susan Stokes-Chapman was an avid reader growing up. The first novel that made her fall in love with storytelling was L.M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables. She connected with the lead character, Ann, who just like her had a passion for literature and was a dreamer too. When she was about twelve, she began to double in Star Wars fanfiction and write other short pieces of fiction. But it was not until she was fourteen and read Shirlee Busbee’s corset rippers that she became certain that she wanted to pursue a career as an author. She loved the rich historical setting and meticulous research, and from then on, she was hooked on the genre. Other wonderful books she read during this time that also influenced her writing include Goosebumps and Sweet Valley Twins books. Stokes also read Jane Austen, Anne Rice, and Jane Eyre, among other works of the gothic and historical fiction genre. All in all, it was an organic process as she immersed herself in many different genres of literature that made her into the writer that she is today.

During her teenage years, Susan Stokes-Chapman spent a lot of her time writing fan fiction, gaming, and indulging in many other creative activities, given her rich imagination. However, she never had the discipline to stick to one thing, and it was only when her family began experiencing financial difficulty that she learned the value of hard work. Money was always tight in her home since she came from a lower middle-class family. Her father’s death when she was sixteen resulted in financial strain, but she worked hard to secure a student loan to attend university. Following her graduation, she realized that she had to find a job to stay afloat and found an office job after a failed attempt at publishing in 2009. She spent seven and half years working the office job, which left her emotionally drained and bitter and dreaming of one day fulfilling her dream of becoming a writer. At 26, she finally had enough and decided to change things following a traumatic romantic experience. Susan pursued degrees in Creative Writing and English Literature, where she learned a lot about the art of writing. She also immersed herself in the writing community in the Midlands and attended several Literary Festivals where she gradually gained recognition for her writing.

At some point, Susan Stokes-Chapman got into social media and made Twitter a vital tool in her writing journey. Engaging with literature, history and various writing-related topics, she became a visible presence on the platform. She also became actively involved with the Writing West Midlands’ Spark Young Writers program and gained valuable speaking and writing experience. Through the experience that she gained from the program, she got into the Room204 Writers’ Development Programme, where she also got access to critical industry insights. During this period, writing dominated every moment of her life as it isolated her from family and friends. Many could not understand why she was so obsessed with an uncertain dream and chose traditional publishing when self-publishing was the in thing. While she lost several relationships, she was convinced that she needed to remain focused to achieve her goals. Stokes-Chapman got much-needed support from her local writing group, and in 2018, her patience paid off when she finally got a chance to talk to an agent at a literary conference.

Susan Stokes-Chapman published Pandora in 2021. It is a richly imagined mystery work set in Georgian era London where the discovery of an ancient artifact sets in motion romance, revelations, and conspiracies. The lead is Dora Blake, a twenty-one-year-old who lives and works in her late father’s antiquities shop. Her father was one of the most famous antiquarians who specialized in Grecian items and had made a fortune excavating tombs in Greece. Twelve years ago, he had died while excavating a tomb and left Dora to her corrupt and unscrupulous uncle, who had taken over the business. Under her uncle, it had become known for dealing with common objects without much historical significance and sometimes outright forgeries. Dora dreams of one day becoming a jewelry designer despite the constant ridicule from her uncle. One day, her uncle comes home with a mysterious crate, which he stores under lock and key. Given the mysterious sounds she hears coming from the basement, Dora tricks her uncle and opens the crate to find a rare Grecian jar with images of Greek mythological figures.

Three years later, Susan Stokes-Chapman published The Shadow Key, which tells the story of a mystery in a small Georgian era village. The lead in the novel is Henry Talbot, who has been cast out and dismissed from an elite London hospital where he was a physician. The only job available is working in the most distant depths of Wales where myth, folklore, and magic are akin to religion. Soon, he learns that his predecessor had died under mysterious circumstances, but he is determined to stay and get to the bottom of the mystery. On the other side of the village is Linette Tresilian, who is the mistress of Plas Helyg and lives a solitary existence as her mother is cloistered away in her room while her father is long dead. With no one to offer any support, she becomes an unconventional and self-reliant woman. She had always been uneasy over the mysterious happenings in the village, and when Henry begins his investigations, she cannot help but ask to join in. But what they do not know is that inside Linette’s massive rundown manor, there is an item with so much power that they may never recover from the truth when they finally unearth it.