Welcome to the Debby Holt Website

My name is Debby Holt and I’m a writer and I can’t tell you what pleasure it gives me to tell you that. Long ago, I was a rather bad history teacher. Less long ago I was a truly rotten supply teacher. Being bad at one’s job is one of the best conditions I know for encouraging a career in writing.

When I was little, I had fantasies about being a writer. On long car journeys I used to bore my five siblings with very, very, VERY long stories. Then I grew up, became a bad history teacher, took time out to have five children and then returned – yes, I know, it’s pathetic – to being a very bad teacher.

In 1994 The Independent published an article I wrote about keeping fit. (I know very little about keeping fit). Duly encouraged, I started writing short stories and although I got loads of rejections I began to get some published.

I was in the car park at Portmeirion when I heard I’d sold my first novel, The Ex-Wife’s Survival Guide. I put down the phone and danced all the way round the car park. I would probably have gone on dancing for ever if I hadn’t noticed a coach full of elderly tourists pointing at me.

Since then I've written four more novels, Annie May's Black Book, The Trouble with Marriage, Love Affairs for Grown-Ups and now Recipe for Scandal. And best of all, I'm not teaching any more.

Click on the book images above for more information.