Julie Cohen
Julie Cohen grew up in the western mountains of Maine. She studied English Literature at
Brown University and Cambridge University. At the University of Reading she gained an
MPhil by research into fairies in nineteenth century children’s literature. Her award-winning
novels have been translated into seventeen languages and have sold over a million copies.
She has twice been selected for the Richard and Judy Book Club.
Julie is a popular speaker and teacher of creative writing; she has given workshops
internationally and has been an Associate Lecturer of Creative Writing at the University of
Reading. She is a Vice President of the Romantic Novelists’ Association, a founder of the
RNA Rainbow Chapter for LGBTQ+ writers, and a Patron of literacy charity ABC To Read.
She won the 2020 Romantic Novelists’ Association Inclusion Award. She lives in Berkshire,
UK with her teenager and a terrier of dubious origin.
For more information visit www.julie-cohen.com
and she is on Twitter as @julie_cohen.
Latest Book: SUMMER PEOPLE (Orion, 2022)
Marriages end with a whisper, not a bang. Not an argument, which is after all about passion,
waves crashing on a shore, but with the small pockets of coldness that an argument creates.
It’s like islands. They don’t sink like Atlantis. They wear away, little by little, until all you’ve
got left is a single rock and a light. A warning to safer travellers to stay away.
The last time Vee left the shores of Unity Island, she thought she’d left forever. But this
summer, she’s returning with her charming husband, Mike.
Vee’s unexpected arrival, this time as one of the wealthy ‘summer people’, sets the small
island community alight with gossip. What’s more, her childhood best friend, Sterling, is
furious that she’s come back - Vee abandoned him when he needed her most.
And then Vee meets Rachel, Sterling’s wife, and a spark is ignited within her that she can’t
extinguish. And as summer turns to autumn, secrets emerge that will cause a storm greater
than any of them could ever have imagined.
But when autumn comes, who will sail away with the tide and who will choose to stay behind
on the island...?
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SPIRITED (Orion, 2020)
Shortlisted, RNA Goldsboro Books Historical Romantic Novel Award 2020
Longlisted, Guardian’s ‘Not The Booker Prize’ 2020
Longlisted, HWA Golden Crown Award
England, 1857. Viola has an impossible talent. Her photographs seem to capture things
invisible to the eye - only a leap of faith could mean they are real. Until one day a woman
arrives in Viola's life and sees the truth - about her pictures, and about Viola.
Henriette is a celebrated spirit medium, carrying nothing but her secrets with her as she
travels the country. The moment she meets Viola, a dangerous connection is sparked - but
Victorian society is no place for reckless women.
Meanwhile, across the world, invisible threads join Viola and Henriette to another woman
who lives in secrecy, hiding her dangerous act of rebellion in plain sight.
Faith. Courage. Love. What will they risk for freedom?
THE TWO LIVES OF LOUIS & LOUISE (Orion, 2019)
Longlisted, The Polari Prize
Two people.
Two lives.
One chance to see the same world differently.
Louis and Louise are the same person born in two different lives. One was born female, and
one male.
They have the same best friends, the same red hair, the same dream of being a writer, the
same excellent whistle. They both suffer one catastrophic night, with life-changing
consequences.
Thirteen years later, they are both coming home . . .
TOGETHER (Orion, 2018)
Winner, RNA Contemporary Romantic Novel of the Year
This is not a great love story. This is a story about great love.
On a morning that seems just like any other, Robbie wakes in his bed, his wife Emily asleep
beside him. He rises and dresses, makes his coffee, feeds his dogs, just as he usually does.
But then he leaves Emily a letter on her bedside table and does something that will break her
heart. As the years go back all the way to 1962, Robbie's actions become clearer as we
discover the story of a couple with a terrible secret - one they will do absolutely anything to
protect.
