Debut Spotlight: Amy Bird

Under the debut spotlight today is Amy Bird whose debut book Yours is Mine has recently been published. 

An alumna of Faber Academy, and currently a Creative Writing MA student at Birkbeck, University of London, Amy Bird writes in a range of media, focussing on novels and plays. She isn’t just a writer – she also juggles a career as a solicitor at a City law firm, where she works four days a week. Born in Hampstead, she lived outside London for years, before returning to her roots in North London, where she now lives with her husband.

Yours is Mine is Bird’s first novel under a three-book deal with Harlequin UK, via their digital-first imprint Carina UK.

The idea for the novel came when a colleague had his bag stolen on a team away-day. “It made me think – what is the most important thing you could have stolen from you? Your identity. But what if someone gave that away voluntarily? And so the idea for the novel was born.”

The novel also explores how vulnerable we make ourselves on social media. “Kate, my protagonist, is an innocent. She thinks no-one can steal her identity from just looking at her public posts. But she soon realises how vulnerable she has made herself in laying bare her soul.”

Kate Dixon is miserable. So when an email arrives from psychology student Anna, offering her a no-strings-attached, three month long life-exchange, she jumps at the chance. After all: what has she got to lose?

But she doesn’t bank on how much Anna has invested in the swap. How long she’s been watching, putting her immaculate plan together as she waits to enter Kate’s life. And as more comes to light about Anna’s past, Kate finds herself in a desperate race to protect all she holds dear.

Leaving your life in someone else’s hands is a dangerous game; Kate’s about to find out just how seriously her opponent is playing.