Emma Barrett-Brown

Hi, I'm Emma. Welcome to my little corner of Amazon! Throughout my life, I’ve always been drawn to the gothic, and that thread runs through everything I write. My books are written for readers who enjoy fiction on the darker side, stories that move between fantasy, gothic romance and psychological thriller. While some of my books do feature younger protagonists, the style and content sit closer to new adult and adult fiction, with themes aimed at a mature readership.

I first published in 2013 under the name Emma Barrett-Brown with the Haverleigh novels, beginning with Ella’s Memoirs. As a younger writer, heavily involved in the goth scene, it felt inevitable that my first novels would lean into paranormal romance. At the time I was reading authors like Anne Rice, Poppy Z. Brite and Charlaine Harris, and their influence is clear in those early books. They were steeped in atmosphere, full of vampires, hauntings and characters wrestling with love, loss and memory. Those stories found an audience among readers who wanted the supernatural but also the weight of human emotion.

From there my focus turned toward fantasy. Around that time I had started playing Dungeons & Dragons, and it opened up a different way of thinking about stories and characters. The wider world also seemed to be embracing fantasy more openly, with series like Game of Thrones and The Witcher making it part of the cultural conversation. My own books were never much like those, but the shift made it feel natural to explore fantasy on my own terms. The Rostalis trilogy let me expand the gothic themes I had always loved onto a broader stage of kingdoms, magic and politics, while Elfkind carried those ideas into an entirely new world. Elfkind became my final release as Barrett-Brown, though I still have a backlog of earlier manuscripts that may one day appear under that name.

Alongside my writing I studied psychology and history at Master’s level, before going on to complete a PhD. Psychology gave me ways of exploring trauma, obsession and identity, while history deepened my fascination with the gothic past and the stories that echo across generations. That academic work also sharpened my style, pushing me toward a tighter, more immediate voice. It was during and after those years that my writing began to shift in tone, moving away from the ornate fantasy of Barrett-Brown toward the darker, contemporary edge that now defines my work as Emma Fox.

These days I’m more influenced by writers like C.J. Tudor, whose work blends psychological tension with an eerie gothic sensibility. Writing under my married name, I now focus on contemporary gothic and psychological thrillers for readers who want fiction that is dark, atmospheric and emotionally grounded. My books often include queer characters and relationships, reflecting both my own life and my belief that gothic and horror fiction have always been a natural space for those of us who live on the margins. The Murders at Foxhill Grove and The Manor Street Hauntings mark the latest step in that journey, weaving together memory, trauma and the shadows that refuse to stay buried.