Old Stopfordian Abigail Dean (OS 2007) graduated from Cambridge with a Double First in English. Formerly a Waterstones bookseller, she spent five years as a lawyer in London, and took summer 2018 off to work on her debut novel, Girl A, ahead of her thirtieth birthday.

Girl A was published in hardback in January 2021 and became an instant Sunday Times and New York Times bestseller, also topping the charts in Ireland and Australia. It reached #1 in the UK Kindle charts. The paperback spent eight weeks in the Sunday Times top ten. The novel has been acquired in 36 territories, and television/film rights have sold to Sony. Johan Renck, director of Chernobyl, is attached to work on the television adaptation of Girl A.

Abigail works as a lawyer for Google. She has always loved reading, writing, and talking about books. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram @AbigailSDean.

Abigail's second novel, Day One, will publish in 2023 with the following introduction:

 In a quiet lakeside town in the north of England, a gunman enters a school. Hours later, Marty’s mother Ava is dead, her arms outstretched to protect the children she taught.

As Stonesmere strives to regain its sense of community in the wake of tragedy, cracks emerge, and with them, conspiracies. Who is the shadowy figure pursuing Marty as she grapples with her grief? And what of the group of people who insist the shooting never happened?

Together with her childhood friend Leo, Marty must piece together the mystery of that fateful day – and face up to the truth about the part she played.

Limited edition first proofs of the novel were recently made available at the London Book Fair in April.

We're excited to see a copy at Stockport Grammar School!