Louise Beech Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Anthologies

Louise Beech is an award-winning British author that writes short stories and full-length novels. Beech writes heartfelt stories about life’s many struggles and challenges.

+Biography

Louise Beech is a wife and a mother of two children. The author values her family above all else. Though she is also quite passionate about her work as a Theatre Usher, not to mention all the work she does with the BBC radio station in her community.

Louise Beech is best known for her novels but her writing exceeds the confines of fiction. The author has a passion for traveling and most of her trips are well documented in the local newspapers for which she writes.

Beech was born to a musician for a father. She remembers sitting on the man’s lap as he attempted to teach her the guitar. At three years of age, Beech didn’t show much talent for the instrument.

However, she grew fascinated with her father’s music sheets. The idea that a language which looked so alien could translate into such beautiful sounds always amazed her.

It is worth noting that the author’s mother taught French and English. Growing up in such an artistic household sparked Beech’s imagination. She realized that words had the power to transport readers to new worlds and she saw fit to become a part of that machine that seeks to help readers escape the rigors of real life.

Beech isn’t just a novelist. She loves writing in all the forms it takes. This includes short stories for which she has won the Eric Hoffer Award and the Glass Woman Prize.

The author also produced a play that was performed at Hull Truck Theater in the early 2010s. This isn’t even taking into account the columns she writes for her local newspaper.

Louise Beech writes about life as a wife and a parent. She explores her own personal experiences.

+Literary Career

Louise Beech has been reading and writing for as long as she can remember. As a child, Beech was enamored by Paul Zindel who wrote YA Novels. The author always left Beech enchanted with his stories of love, identity and the concept of fitting in.

She was also drawn to Lois Duncan whose YA books had a darker and more twisted edge to them. Back then, Beech was enticed by YA because she could relate to the struggles of her favorite authors’ protagonists.

Her tastes changed drastically as she matured, to the point where Beech doesn’t really have a favorite genre. The author will read anything that catches her fancy.

Beech was 44 when ‘How to be Brave’ was published. Beech had been writing for years at this point. Even as a child, the author knew that she was destined to become a published author.

Not only was she proficient in English but that was the only subject in which she excelled. Beech wasn’t an especially bright student and she didn’t really perform well in school when it was all said and done.

But she emerged unrivaled in the arena of English. Her teachers grew accustomed to a young Louise Beech filling her exercise books with stories that would run on for several chapters.

As an adult, the author never really made much of a splash until she wrote ‘How to be Brave’. The book was actually inspired by her own struggles with her daughter.

Beech, her husband, and their children were living in Hull in 2007. They were among several families who suffered dearly at the hands of a flood. They lost their house, their car and most of their possessions.

A month later, the family’s problems were exacerbated when their daughter Katy came down with an illness. Tastes revealed that she had Type 2 Diabetes. The diagnosis shook Louise Beech’s world.

At seven years of age, Katy was assigned a strict regimen that involved dieting, monitored exercise, and more than half a dozen daily blood tests and injections. And for three years, she played by the rules.

But by 2010, the little girl had had enough. She refused her injections and no amount of begging or blackmailing would change her mind. It took Beech a while to cajole her daughter into taking her daily insulin injections.

And she only succeeded when she offered the little girl a story. Katy was happy to let Beech inject her and take her blood so long as the author told her a story. And Beech was happy to make the trade.

She didn’t think the task would present much of a challenge. However, those first few stories that she made up were thoroughly criticized by her daughter who encouraged her to refine her craft.

Beech remembered that she had a grandfather who made quite a few waves after being stranded adrift on the South Atlantic Sea and surviving for fifty days. Beech began to flesh his story out, first as a means of placating Katy, and then because she had begun to obsess over the ordeal herself and couldn’t help but wonder what went through the old man’s’ head for fifty days as he struggled to survive on the South Atlantic Sea.

Years later, Beech wrote about a mother and daughter who bond over a story as they attempt to achieve victory over a disease assaulting the daughter. The book was a big hit and it set Beech on the path to becoming a renowned author.

+Maria in the Moon

Catherine Hope is a 31-year-old woman who refuses to give up. Catherine should have a great memory but there are gaps in her recollection. For instance, she doesn’t remember anything that happened when she was nine.

And she has no idea when her insomnia started, nor when people saw fit to stop calling her Catherine Maria. When a 2007 flood destroys her home, Catherine’s decision to volunteer at Flood Crisis sets her up for unexpected change.

+The Mountain in My Shoe

Bernadette was married to a domineering husband but she had finally had enough. She had finally found the courage to tell him she was leaving him. On the night that she intends to put this courage to the test, Bernadette’s husband doesn’t come home.

Conor, a little boy, and Bernadette’s good friend is also missing. Bernadette joins forces with Conor’s foster mum as they attempt to make sense of the mystery.