Bella Ellis / Rowan Coleman Books In Order

Publication Order of Brontë Sisters Mystery Books

as Bella Ellis

Publication Order of Ruby Parker Books

Publication Order of Sophie Mills Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Anthologies

Rowan Coleman who also writes mysteries as Bella Ellis is a literary fiction, young adult, romance and children’s fiction author from Berkhamsted. She was born and bred in Berkhamsted in the 1970s but currently lives in Hertfordshire with her husband and children. Coleman who has been compared to Nora Ephron and Jo Jo Moyes, has said that she loves to live her life as if she is starring in her musical. Despite being dyslexic, she has been very successful and won several awards over the years including the Richard and Judy Bookclub selection and for her eleventh novel “The Memory Book.” Her first novel was “Growing Up Twice” that she published in 2002 to much commercial success and critical acclaim. Since then, she has written several series that include the “Ruby Parker” series and the “Sophie Mills” series. She has also written single standing novels such as “Lessons in Laughing Out Loud,” and “Dearest Rose,” the novel that got her to become a huge supporter of Refuge, a domestic abuse charity. As Bella Ellis, she has written the critically acclaimed novel “The Vanished Bride” the first of the “Bronte Sisters Mystery” series. When she is not writing her novels she loves to watch films, try her hand at baking and sleeping.

Bella Ellis / Rowan Coleman has always been a storyteller from when she was a child. However, she had dyslexia, which held her back for a time while she was in school. She did not do very well in school until she was 13 and showed some of her poems to her teacher. The teacher was convinced she had taken it out of a book and this convinced her that she was that good. Coleman got more encouragement when she transferred to Ashlyn’s School, where her teacher impressed by her writing encouraged her to write more. She would later graduate with a grade A in English and proceeded to University. It was in university that she finally had her dyslexia in control and began to write more earnestly. After graduation, she worked in bookshops then graduated to administrative assistant for several publishers, even as she kept writing. She got her big break in 2000 when an entry she sent to Company Magazine won their Young Writer of the Year award. This opened doors for her as she got an agent and a book deal that culminated in the publishing of her first novel “Growing Up Twice” in 2002. As a ten-year-old, Bella Ellis had always been fascinated by the Bronte sisters, especially their imaginatively rich and creative lives. She was drawn to the drawings and the books they made and felt that these were the type of kids she would have loved to be friends with. The cruelty and terrible cold that Jane Eyre had to suffer was one of her formative reading experiences and this drove her to read and research the other sisters. It is from this fascination and interest in the Bronte sisters that she wrote the “Bronte Sisters Mystery” series.

Bella Ellis / Rowan Coleman is comfortable writing in a variety of genres though many have called her a chick lit author. She detests the chick-lit label as she finds it sexist and demeaning, instead preferring to classify her novels by the themes. The common themes in her novels are about how a seemingly humdrum life can turn out to be rich and surprising even when they are about ordinary people. Rowan Coleman’s Sophie Mill’s series is about Sophie, a woman that opted for a big career in the city rather than motherhood. She is a corporate events manager poised to become a mover and shaker in London though this means she hardly has time for men. But then she has to take care of the children of her best friend with no clue how to do it. They are genuine, emotion-filled, wise and witty novels that tell the heartwarming story of a woman underequipped to deal with the rigors of motherhood. But through the experience she learns about true love, loss, and commitment. In the “Vanished Bride” series, Bella Ellis tells the story of the Bronte sisters Charlotte, Anne, and Emily before they became famous authors. It tells their stories as amateur sleuths that trawl the moors and resolve misdemeanors and local crime. Ellis made use of contemporary recollections of the Bronte sisters, their letters and their biographies to write the stories of the Bronte Sisters Mystery. She also reverse-engineered some of their novels to get some idea of what experiences and mysteries might have inspired them.

The first novel of the Sophie Mills series “The Accidental Mother” is the story of Sophie, a woman that had worked hard and was now near the zenith of her profession. She is one of the best corporate events planners in London though her busy life means that she has no time for men. She lives in a custom flat with only her cat Artemis for company. She is not happy with her life but she is not going to get into a relationship as she believes family and children would get in the way of achievement. But then she gets an unexpected visitor who informs her that Carrie her childhood friend is dead. Her husband Louis was nowhere to be found and it was now up to Sophie to take care of the children Carrie had left behind. She never thought motherhood would be this hard as she wakes up to her flat trashed, her makeup splatter all over the walls and her bubble bath drained out. She is in near despair until her mother who is known for non-conventional solutions suggests a dog training and care manual. Sophie has nothing to lose and knows she has to take anything offered if she is to cope with taking care of the two children she had grown to love.

Rowan Coleman’s “The Accidental Family” continues the story of Sophie Mills who half a year ago had left the city and moved to Cornwall. She had left everything behind to start a family with the two adopted girls she loves and the man she thinks she loves. But life in the country is not as easy as Sophie thought it would be. She can no longer get ready access to designer shoes let alone have any occasion to wear them. Sophie has been in the country long enough that half the time she does not recognize herself and this sometimes makes her scared though, for the most part, she could not be happier. The hardest thing she has yet to do is make the decision to move in with Louis and make the family she wanted. She had stayed at the Avalon B&B St Ives for so long that she had made history as its longest paying guest. As she tries to adapt to her new family and country living and also discovers things about the man she loves, she is increasingly wondering if she has what it takes to make a family work.

Bella Ellis’s “The Vanished Bride” is set in 1845 Yorkshire where a young woman goes missing leaving no trace except for a large pool of blood in her bedroom in Chester Grange. A few miles from the swamps Charlotte, Anne and Emily Bronte the daughters of a humble parson are intrigued and horrified with the news. They visit Chester Grange to learn more and notice the crime scene has several bizarre details, the biggest of which is the absence of an investigation. Together, the three girls believe they have the boundless imagination, resourcefulness, and energy that could help resolve the mystery. They are convinced that if they do not take action, no one else will. But investigations have never been easy, particularly since they live in a society that believes the woman should stay in the home rather than wander the countryside collecting clues. But the girls are not about to be deterred by some misogynistic perceptions. They will do everything in their power to find out what happened to Elizabeth Chester, even if it means putting their lives in danger.