Liz Hodgkinson

Hello, readers. I hope you enjoy reading my books, of which the latest is A Mink Coat in St Neots: My Mother's Flower Shop and the Mystery of a Wealthy Russian Princess. It is published by New Orleans press on November 7th, 2024. The book tells the story of a glamorous and mysterious woman who was a customer in my mother's shop. She lived in a nearby village with her barrister husband Colin Dennistoun-Sword and Prince Nicholas Galitzine. But who was she? Who were they? It took a lot of detective work to uncover this stranger-than-fiction story, set in the flat countryside of East Anglia. My other new book is My Covid Diary, a compilation of dissident essays on the Covid nightmare. Both are available on Amazon.

For much of my life I was a national newspaper journalist, and got into writing books later. My 1986 book Sex Is Not Compulsory, was an international, and somewhat controversial, best seller. It was translated into about 20 languages and I had the strange experience of being a temporary celebrity, with film crews camped on my lawn. Many other non-fiction books followed, on a wide variety of subjects. During this time I got divorced from my husband Neville Hodgkinson, who after a successful career as a science and medical correspondent on The Daily Mail, Times and Sunday Times, gave it all up to become a member of the Brahma Kumaris, an Indian spiritual movement run by women. After a few years on my own, I had a long relationship with the talented and witty writer John Sandilands, who died in 2004. Since then I have been on my own and mostly, happily single.

Neville and I had two sons, Tom and Will. Tom is the editor and founder of the Idler Magazine, a magazine columnist and author. He runs the annual Idler Festival as well as several Idler retreats in Italy and Spain. He was educated at Westminster School and Cambridge University. Will is chief rock and pop critic at The Times, and has a smash hit with his latest book, Street-level Superstar: A Year with Lawrence. Lawrence is the pop star most people have never heard of but he is a most intriguing character.

I also have five grandchildren, now all adult and all very different from each other. Arthur is a tech genius, working for a Financial Technology company; Otto is an artist and sculptor; Delilah is embarking on a career as a journalist; Pearl is an art student working in fashion and textiles and Henry, bringing up the rear, is at university reading Ancient History.

For the past 15 years I have been living in Oxford. I don't have any hobbies as such, but keep fit by going to the gym and exercising on my bike at home, and enjoy going to the cinema and theatre. I mainly go to new, avant-garde plays in fringe theatres as not only are they cheaper than the West End, they are also more thought-provoking.

I think that's about all! And it's enough.