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Caroline Lea

Caroline Lea was born and raised in Jersey. She studied English Literature and Creative Writing at Warwick University and has had poetry published in Phoenix New Writing and An Aston Anthology, which she also co-edited. When the Sky Fell Apart is her first novel.

Genres: Historical, Historical Mystery

Novels

   When the Sky Fell Apart (2016)
   The Glass Woman (2019)
   The Metal Heart (2021)
   Prize Women (2023)
   Love, Sex & Frankenstein (2025)

Award nominations

2019 HWA Debut Crown Award (shortlist) : The Glass Woman

Caroline Lea recommends

Miss Bates (2026)
Catherine Cliff
"Henrie Bates is a brilliant character and the contrast between her inner and outer world heightens the humor - and tragedy - in this superb exploration of a character who is so often a source of ridicule. Impressively, Catherine Cliff has struck a tone that feels beautifully similar to Austen's wry satire. Miss Bates is a wonderful portrayal of the rich inner world and inspiring inner fury of a powerless woman."

Elizabeth and Marilyn (2026)
Julie Owen Moylan
"An immersive and emotionally complex portrait of two brilliant women under unimaginable pressure. Brava!"

The Tarot Reader of Versailles (2025)
Anya Bergman
"A complex, epic and engrossing tale, which is part emotive love story with a fantastical edge, part fascinating historical exploration of the French Revolution and part compulsive revenge story, which holds the reader captive throughout. . . . The voices of these two women who find themselves caught up in the heady and dangerous world of the Revolution are beautifully drawn."

The Sunshine Man (2025)
Emma Stonex
"Gripping, heartbreaking, and one of the most psychologically complex thrillers I've ever read."

The Book of Secrets (2024)
Anna Mazzola
"Beautiful, elegant, sharp, witty, poignant and intense, The Book of Secrets is a fantastically atmospheric evocation of C17th Rome, with all its grime, claustrophobia, injustice and shocking violence against women."

Lady MacBethad (2023)
Isabelle Schuler
"Lady MacBethad is a gripping and fiercely feminist reimagining of an extraordinary woman. Gruoch's tale is an utterly compelling and absorbing reframing of the character and the story we think we all know."

The Secrets of Hartwood Hall (2023)
Katie Lumsden
"A brilliantly creepy and utterly compelling read, which put me in mind of Laura Purcell, Stacey Halls and Michelle Paver: it's up there with the most wonderfully engrossing and twisty gothic historical fiction."

Other Women (2023)
Emma Flint
"Utterly, utterly brilliant. Other Women is compelling, thought-provoking, harrowing and incredibly urgent."

The Heroines (2023)
Laura Shepperson
"I was gripped throughout. A relevant and original retelling, giving voice and agency to women whose stories have been a subplot in myth or have remained unheard for so long. A fiercely compelling novel."

The Seawomen (2022)
Chloe Timms
"Richly atmospheric, powerful and provocative. A raw and beautiful coming of age story."

Cecily (2021)
Annie Garthwaite
"Entirely absorbing and utterly compelling. C15th England leaps from the page, with all its political turmoil & bloodshed. I loved it."

The Wolf Den (2021)
(Wolf Den, book 1)
Elodie Harper
"A gripping tale, which celebrates female solidarity and empowerment in the face of oppression and adversity. Rich in historical detail, beauty and brutality, The Wolf Den brings to vivid life the doomed city of Pompeii and the powerlessness of its women. I loved it."

This Lovely City (2020)
Louise Hare
"This Lovely City is a beguiling, atmospheric, and important novel, with wonderful, memorable characters and a vital message about love, loyalty, and hope."

We All Begin As Strangers (2017)
Harriet Cummings
"Wonderful... Full of surprising twists, right up until the final revelations."

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