Alex Hourston and Juliet West at the Steyning Literary Festival

Alex Hourston was working in advertising when the idea for her first novel ‘In My House’ emerged. A tense psychological thriller published by Faber, and coming in paperback at the beginning of May, the story begins at Gatwick Airport when a middle-aged woman befriends a teenage immigrant. Soon afterwards she begins receiving upsetting and intimidating phone calls.

Juliet West, inspired by a true story, set her carefully researched debut novel ‘Before the Fall’, in London’s East End Docklands during the First World War. A vivid portrayal of the harsh lives experienced on the home front and a devastating tale of love and betrayal.  She is now working on her second novel, which is set in London and Sussex in the 1930s.

Thursday 26 May, 2 – 4 pm