Anna Bailey was born in Bristol in 1995 and spent her childhood in Gloucestershire. She studied Creative Writing at Bath Spa university and wanted to become a journalist, but ended up moving to Colorado and becoming a Starbucks barista instead. In 2018 she returned to the UK, where she enrolled in the Curtis Brown Creative Novel-writing course and wrote her first novel, Tall Bones, inspired by her experience of living in small-town America. Twitter: @annafbailey Instagram: @annabaileywrites
Beautifully written and very moving, this is an assured debut. * Laura Wilson, GUARDIAN * A nuanced thriller that will haunt you long after you race through its pages. * GRAZIA * One of the most exciting debuts of the year. * SUNDAY EXPRESS * Spellbinding and darkly beautiful.... intricately plotted and exquisitely written, Tall Bones is a stunning debut. * WOMEN & HOME * Fast paced and moving. * LITERARY REVIEW * The best kind of small-town crime novel... one that drips with atmosphere. Bailey has penned a compulsive literary crime-drama about love, guilt, trauma, intolerance and the consequences of religious devotion... an intricately weaved and haunting story that will stay with you for days after. * Culturefly * Both menacing and haunting, a compelling and atmospheric debut. * DAILY MAIL * Bailey writes with perfect poise. She is destined for great things - I feel it in my bones. * SAGA magazine * Cleverly written, Anna Bailey's debut shines a light on the darker and more oppressive side of small-town society. * INDEPENDENT * One of the most exciting debuts of the year. * OK magazine * Tall Bones is as atmospheric as it gets. Anna writes beautifully and it was so refreshing to experience a different voice - a stunning debut that delivers on every level. Reminded me of Jane Harper's The Dry. * RENEE KNIGHT, author of Disclaimer * With Tall Bones, Anna Bailey bursts onto the scene with a wonderfully haunting debut. Small-town intrigue, exquisitely drawn. * JANE HARPER, author of The Dry and The Lost Man * 'A clever, twisting debut about the dark side of small town America. It is packed with secrets like firecrackers ready to ignite.' * FRANCINE TOON, author of Pine * Anna Bailey's debut is irresistible, a compelling and nuanced psychological thriller suffused with small town prejudice and dark family secrets. * PAULA HAWKINS, author of The Girl on the Train * An intricate and compelling thriller, beautifully nuanced. Brilliant. * SJ WATSON, author of Before I Go to Sleep * Anna Bailey writes like a dream about teenage love and lust, the terror of knowledge and the claustrophobia of families and of small towns. * EMMA FLINT, author of Little Deaths * I felt so strongly about some of the characters that I had to check the ending to make sure they were ok! Extremely well written... fantastic. * HARRIET TYCE, author of Blood Orange * Its portrait of small-town intrigue is scarily credible. Bailey understands that the dynamics that drive small-town relationships are the same the world over. * VAL McDERMID * A terrific debut about guilt, secrets and complex family dynamics - the writing is vivid & assured: Anna Bailey is definitely one to watch. * LUCY ATKINS, author of Magpie Lane * Gripping and so beautifully written Tall Bones is spellbinding; dark and menacing, but also so full of love and hope. I loved it. I cried. * CRESSIDA McLAUGHLIN, author of The Cornish Cream Tea Christmas * Haunting... Emma's path to where the truth lies will carry the reader's soul along in both moving and compassionate ways. * Maxim Jakubowski, CRIME TIME * Brilliant! Could not put it down. It's utterly gripping and beautifully written. * KATIE FFORDE * Smart and compassionate, full of poetry and rage and shy hopes and shredded dreams and missing girls and family secrets. * TAMMY COHEN, author of Stop At Nothing * This is a striking first novel, a chilling insight into an oppressive world, where bad thoughts and bad deeds ripple just below the surface, out of sight. * Alison Flood, OBSERVER * Chilling and compulsive... a dazzling debut. * KATE HAMER, author of The Girl in the Red Coat *