Harriet Smart Welcome! I write historical and contemporary fiction that emphasizes warm and well-drawn characters against a background of world events and compelling settings.

I am also the co-creator of the Writer's Café software toolkit.

If you're a writer, you may find my Writing Tips useful. You can also buy some of my books here (further e-books coming soon).

I do hope you enjoy my site. Please let me know if you have any comments, either about this site or my books.

About my books

When you read a Harriet Smart book, you will go on an emotional, sensual journey through the complex lives of characters you really believe in and care about.

Travel to a castle on a Scottish island in the eighteen-nineties, or to the battlefields of the First World War; visit the dark streets of Regency London or vibrant, contemporary Edinburgh. Heart-stopping emotional dilemmas, exciting political drama, the temptations of love - in short, fiction you'll find hard to put down.

Find out what happens to Leonora in the Siege of Mafeking. Does Chris Adam achieve her ambition to be a distinguished composer? Does Vivien find happiness when she marries a politician? What can become of Angus, as a soldier in the First World War when he's honest about his unconventional sexuality? Can Jessie, a cook, really find happiness with Scotsman on the make, Sholto Hamilton? Can Alix Erskine survive going on hunger strike for her beliefs?

I hope you enjoy exploring the worlds of Harriet Smart, and will remember the characters for years to come!

© Harriet Smart 2008

Smart's characters have a feel of authentic life and move in and out of a backdrop which cunningly incorporates political change, trade union rebellion, suffragette noise and good food - The Sunday Times

Interviews

Harriet Smart interviewed on BBC Radio Scotland's 'Book Café', October 2008
Harriet Smart interviewed on the Writing Show, March 2006

Writer's Café

Writer's Café Take a look at Writer's Café, the software I helped create to provide writers with tools for researching and plotting their stories - a place to be creative. It runs on Windows, Mac and Linux, and works well on netbooks such as the Asus Eee PC and Acer Aspire One. If you're a writer, or thinking of writing, why not take the demo for a spin and see if it suits your writing style!

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Fiction: The Facts

Fiction: The Facts This 60-page e-book by Harriet Smart, co-designer of Writer's Café and author of five novels published by Headline, is a friendly introduction to the essential techniques of storytelling, whether you're writing novels, screenplays or short stories. It comes in PDF, MobiPocket, RTF and Microsoft Reader formats.

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The Wild Garden

The Wild Garden Kate Mackenzie is on the brink of success as an artist when she meets Gabriel Erskine, twenty-two years her senior. She's not looking for a relationship, but Gabriel's understanding of paintings and his outlook, so different from that of her friends, captivate her. Six months later, she moves into Allansfield, the beautiful house in rambling gardens on Gabriel's estate in Fife. She doesn't know him well, but what better way to change that than by living with him?

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