Imogen Hermes Gowar

Welcome. I'm a fiction writer with a particular interest in history. I studied Archaeology, Anthropology and Art History at the University of East Anglia before going on to work in museums: material culture was my way into storytelling as well as history, and I can never resist a tactile approach to my work.

My first novel, The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock, is set in 1780s London and charts the fortunes of a merchant and a courtesan on the make: it won UEA's Curtis Brown Prize, was a finalist for the MsLexia First Novel Award and the Deborah Rogers Prize; shortlisted for the Women's Prize For Fiction and the Sunday Times PFD Young Writer of the Year Award; and longlisted for the Desmond Elliot Prize and the HWA Debut Crown 2018. It won a Betty Trask Award.

I'm now grateful to have Arts Council funding to research and write about Lady Eleanor Talbot (c.1436-68), a now-shadowy figure who was nevertheless once at the centre of the Wars of the Roses, and believed by some to be Edward IV's secret bride. You can find out more about Eleanor, and the work I'm doing on her, on this site as the project unfolds.

I also teach and facilitate sessions in writing historical fiction: look out for upcoming 8-week courses, or contact me for other requests.