Caroline Scott
After completing a PhD in History, at the University of Durham, Caroline Scott worked as a researcher in Belgium and France. She has a particular interest in the experience of women during the interwar period and in the challenges faced by the returning soldier – themes which she’s explored in her writing. Caroline is originally from Lancashire, but now lives in southwest France.
For more information visit www.cscottbooks.co.uk. She is on X as @CScottBooks.
Caroline’s next novel, THE BEST OF INTENTIONS, will be published by Simon & Schuster in July 2025.
Welcome to a utopia in the Gloucestershire countryside... When Robert Bardsley arrives at Anderby Hall in December 1932, it is home to a collective of artists, craftsmen and performers. Founded in 1920 by an American philanthropist, Mrs Fitzgerald, ‘Greenfields’ is a place of unchecked idealism and outlandish lifestyles. There to restore the estate’s neglected formal gardens, Robert is gradually convinced that this social experiment is doing something worthwhile – and there’s also the lovely Faye… But when the residents discover that Mrs Fitzgerald has sold part of the grounds to a property developer, cracks fracture the community’s façade.
Latest Book: GOOD TASTE (Simon & Schuster, 2022) US rights sold to William Morrow.
England, 1932, and the country is in the grip of the Great Depression. To lift the spirits of the nation, food journalist Stella Douglas is tasked with writing a history of English cookery. It’s to be quintessentially English and will remind English housewives of the old ways, and English men of the glory of their country. The only problem is – much of English food is really from, well, elsewhere . . .
Stella sets about unearthing recipes from all corners of the country, in the hope of finding a hidden culinary gem. But when her car breaks down and the dashing and charismatic Freddie springs to her rescue, she is led in a very different direction.
Full of wit and vim, Good Taste is a story of discovery, of English nostalgia, change and challenge, and one woman’s desire to make her own way as a modern woman.
US rights sold to William Morrow.
‘A fascinating, immersive and delicious treat of a book.’ (Heat)
‘Wonderful on nostalgia, doing things your own way and maintaining faith. I raced through it.’ (Daily Mail)
THE VISITORS (Simon & Schuster, 2021)
1923. Esme Nicholls is to spend the summer in Cornwall. Her late husband Alec, who died fighting in the war, grew up in Penzance, and she’s hoping to learn more about the man she loved and lost.
While there, she will stay with Gilbert, her employer’s brother, in a rambling seaside house, where he lives with a group of friends. Esme is fascinated by this community of eccentric artists and ex-servicemen, and as she gets to know these men and their stories, she begins to process and accept her own loss.
But everything is not as idyllic as it seems – a mysterious new arrival later in the summer will turn Esme’s world upside down, and make her question everything she thought she knew about her life, and the people in it.
‘This thought-provoking and exquisitely written novel has touched my heart. … The Visitors is so eloquently emotional and earthy it will stay with me for some time.’ (LoveReading)
‘Beautifully written, with evocative images of Cornwall, and addressing grief and the horrors of war, Esme's journey will stay with you for a very long time.’ (Heat)
WHEN I COME HOME AGAIN (Simon & Schuster, 2020) One of The Times’ best books of 2020.
1918. In the last week of the First World War, a uniformed soldier is arrested in Durham Cathedral. When questioned, it becomes clear he has no memory of who he is or how he came to be there.
The soldier is given the name Adam and transferred to a rehabilitation home. His doctors there are determined to recover who this man once was. But Adam doesn’t want to remember. Unwilling to relive the trauma of war, Adam has locked his memory away, seemingly for good.
When a newspaper publishes a feature about Adam, three women come forward, each claiming that he is someone she lost in the war. But who is telling the truth? Does Adam really have a connection to any of these women?
WHEN I COME HOME AGAIN, was chosen as one of The Times’ best books of 2020.
‘A page-turning literary gem about grief, loss and the impact of war on those left behind.’ (The Times)
‘Caroline Scott’s quietly devastating second novel insightfully explores the impact of the Great War on returning soldiers and the families that waited… Scott skilfully unspools their heart-breaking stories while uncovering the source of Adam's fear.’ (Daily Mail)
THE PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE LOST
1921. The Great War is over and families are desperately trying to piece together the fragments of their broken lives. While many survivors have been reunited with their loved ones, Edie’s husband Francis has not come home. He was declared ‘missing, believed killed’ during the war, but when Edie receives a mysterious photograph in the post, taken by Francis, hope flares. And so she begins to search.
Francis’ brother, Harry, is also searching. Hired by grieving families to photograph gravesites, he has returned to the Western Front. As Harry travels through battle-scarred France, gathering news for British wives and mothers, he longs for Francis to be alive, so they can forgive each other for the last conversation they ever had.
As Harry and Edie’s paths converge, they begin to get closer to a startling truth.
THE PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE LOST was a BBC Radio 2 Book Club selection.
US rights sold to William Morrow (where it was published as The Poppy Wife). Translation rights sold to Albatros Media, Czech Republic, and L’Archipel, France.
‘This excellent debut is a melancholic reminder of the rippling after-effects of war.’ (The Times)
‘Searing and stark, this novel will remain etched in the minds and hearts of readers everywhere. Momentous, revelatory and astonishing historical fiction!’ (Historical Novel Society)
Bibliography:
THE BEST OF INTENTIONS (Simon & Schuster, 2025)
GOOD TASTE (Simon & Schuster, 2022)
THE VISITORS (Simon & Schuster, 2021)
WHEN I COME HOME AGAIN (Simon & Schuster, 2020)
THE PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE LOST (Simon & Schuster, 2019)
HOLDING THE HOME FRONT: THE WOMEN’S LAND ARMY IN THE FIRST WORLD WAR (Pen & Sword, 2017)
THE MANCHESTER BANTAMS: THE STORY OF A PALS BATTALION AND A CITY AT WAR (Pen & Sword, 2015)
THOSE MEASURELESS FIELDS (Pen & Sword, 2014)