Karen McCombie

“One of children's fiction's most accomplished authors" – Waterstones

Highly-acclaimed and much-loved children's author Karen McCombie has had more than 100 books published since the runaway success of her 'ALLY'S WORLD' series in the early 2000s.

Her latest novels are 'THE ACCIDENTAL VIKINGS' (Jan '26), 'MY FAMILY THE ENEMY' (Oct '25), 'MY PERFECT COUSIN' (July '25) and 'WORLD OF WANDA' (Feb '25).

Karen's Scottish Victorian adventure 'LITTLE BIRD FLIES' was Carnegie-nominated, and was both a 'Sunday Times' and 'Times' Children's Book of the Week. Her heroine Bridie's adventures concluded in pioneer-era America with 'LITTLE BIRD LANDS'. Both books are described by bookseller Aimee Bratt as being "one of the most beautiful duologies to grace the sphere of children's books".

In a past life, Karen worked as a journalist on teenage girls' magazines such as 'Just 17' and 'Sugar'. Her hobbies include scribbling random observations in notebooks, brushing cat hair from the keyboard of her laptop, walking her scruffy dog and posting nonsense on Instagram.