Maisie Thomas

Maisie Thomas is the author of the Railway Girls series and the Wartime Hotel series, both of which are set on the home front in the Second World War. The stories concentrate on the importance of female friendship, especially when those friendships come about unexpectedly, and the ways in which women support one another through the highs and lows of everyday life in wartime. The books follow on from one another, but at the same time, each one is complete in itself.

Maisie's new series, Calico House, is set in the early 1920s and concerns the women who come to Calico House at a time when each is at a turning point in her life. Calico House offers both security and the chance to earn a living. Maisie says: "I hope readers are going to love this new series. I loved working on it and delving into the social details of the time. It also gave me the chance to write about the clothes of the era - one of my favourite topics."

The publication dates for the Calico House series are September 2026, March 2027 and September 2027.

Maisie also writes as Susanna Bavin and Polly Heron. As Polly, she writes the 1920s saga series, The Surplus Girls, about young women striving for independence in the aftermath of the First World War. As Susanna she has written four stand-alone sagas (The Deserter's Daughter, A Respectable Woman, The Sewing Room Girl and The Poor Relation) and a WW2 saga series, The Home Front Girls, about the lives of young women working in a salvage depot, and her new WW2 series, The Red Cross Girls.

Maisie was born and brought up in Manchester, which provides the location for her novels. She now lives on the beautiful North Wales coast with her husband and their two rescue cats.