Some Big News

I’ve been keeping a secret for some time now.

Nine months to be exact.

I am very happy to say that my husband and I are expecting our first baby!

In many ways, I am a very private person so the decision to keep this wonderful, exciting, nervous time offline has been an easy one. My friends and family were fantastic about not posting photos or spilling the news in comments on social media, for which I’m very grateful.

Now for some practical matters. I will be starting my maternity leave from today, which means major changes to how I show up online and engage with readers. I thought, therefore, it would be a good idea to share a bit about what 2026 is probably going to look like for me as an author who writes about her writing and reading life on Substack.

A few of the many things I’ve knitted for the baby during this pregnancy as well as my childhood rabbit who got a much-needed bath before entering the nursery

Maternity leave in the UK

Being born and raised in the US, one of the biggest professional things to wrap my head around when I found out I was pregnant is what maternity leave looks like in the UK for a self-employed author like myself.

I won’t get too much into the weeds here, but suffice it to say that, whether you are self-employed or have an employer, maternity leave periods tend to be much longer (and are far more protected) than in America. If you are self-employed, there is also financial support from the government in the form of something called maternity allowance.¹ That isn’t to say that there isn’t still plenty of work to do here in the UK on maternity leave and parental rights², but I am grateful for the support that I will receive while I am on leave.

My plans

At this point in time, my intention is to take off from now until the beginning of October 2026. After that, I will begin to ramp back up to work, starting with the release of my upcoming historical novel which is due out in the autumn. This means that there will be no disruption to the release of that book or the anticipated paperback release of A Dark and Deadly Journey (Evelyne Redfern #3). (Yay more books!)

I’m not putting any pressure on myself as to when I’ll be back to full-time authoring because I suspect that would only add rather than remove stress from my life, and who doesn’t need less stress with a new baby in the house?

What differences will you see here on Substack?

First, let’s talk about the changes you’ll see.

The big headline is that pre-scheduling on Substack and social media is about to become my very best friend—even more so than it ever was.

Because they are too time-sensitive to pre-schedule, I will not be sending my monthly Your Latest London Dispatch or What I Read Last Month updates. You also will not see me in the comments either here or on social media while I am on maternity leave.

I intend to be very strict with this because, among many reasons, I want to take this time to focus on my little one and learn how to be a mother.

What you’re going to get instead

Here’s the good news. I knew that I didn’t want to just disappear offline for most of a year only to pop up again just in time for a book release. For that reason, I’ve been working away for months on a plan that will keep me right here on Substack, in your inboxes, and on your social media feeds even when I am on maternity leave.

Thanks to pre-scheduling, each month I will be sharing two new kinds of articles:

• The Story Behind the Book, which is a deep dive into each of my novels. Sometimes I will tell you the origin story of a book like the inspiration behind The Last Garden in England, or I’ll share what it was really like writing a particularly tricky book like The Whispers of War

• Hooked on Books, which is a monthly feature that will hone in on a particular subgenre of books. These articles will be packed with recommendations of some of my favorite reads, and they’ll be a chance to share recommendations with other readers in the comments

In addition to those two types of articles, you’ll also see various pieces diving deeper into some of my historical research, as well as announcements about my upcoming historical novel.

If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, you will also see prescheduled posts, but again just a friendly reminder that I will not be responding to comments while I am on maternity leave.

There is no real road map for what a working author should do regarding maternity leave, so you can trust me that I am very much making this up as I go along.³ Because of that, I’m not going to announce an exact date about when I will be back online or make any promises that things will look exactly as they have pre-baby. What I will say is that I’m very much looking forward to this next chapter of my life with The Gentleman and our growing family!

1. Since I work for myself, I can set the length of my maternity leave period, however the UK has something called maternity allowance for self-employed people which pays a modest allowance for up to 39 weeks (so long as they are eligible). It is not a salary replacement, but it does help provide some income while on leave. If you’re curious, this is where you can read up on it.

2. If you are looking for advice or advocacy around maternity allowance, I cannot recommend the charity Maternity Action enough. Not only do they have great resources, they also have a hotline where you can speak to solicitors for answers to your specific questions. This was invaluable when figuring out my own maternity leave and maternity allowance plans.

3. Part of me would very much like to write up a “how to” guide for other UK creatives who find themselves in this spot. Part of me also feels…very tired when I think about doing that right now.