Katie Allen has never invaded the life of a stranger or lied about owning a dog, but the starting point to her debut novel is autobiographical. Her son, Finn, was stillborn in 2010 and she wrote to him from time to time (and yes, someone did say ‘everything happens for a reason’). Katie was previously a journalist at the Guardian before leaving to pursue writing. She completed the City University MA in Novel Writing in 2019. She lives in London with her husband, children, a dog, a cat, and stick insects.