Emilia Hart

Hart was born in Sydney and educated at Barker College. She studied law and English at the University of New South Wales and became a lawyer. In her mid-20s, she moved to London. Her grandfather is the novelist and playwright Barry Oakley. At 26, after suffering a stroke, she decided to write a novel.{{Cite web |title=Borough Press pre-empts Hart debut in six-figure deal |url=https://www.thebookseller.com/rights/borough-press-pre-empts-hart-debut-six-figure-deal-1249343 |access-date=2024-01-21 |website=The Bookseller |language=En}}

Hart began writing her debut novel, Weyward, while living in Cumbria, where the novel is set. She drew comparisons between the Pendle Witch Trials of 1612 and the rise in violence against women during the COVID-19 lockdown, remarking that "the two seemed horribly linked".{{Cite web |last=southernbooklady |date=2023-03-28 |title=Spotlight on: Weyward by Emilia Hart |url=https://thesouthernbooksellerreview.org/book-buzz-weyward/ |access-date=2024-01-20 |website=The Southern Bookseller Review |language=en-US}}

Weyward was published in the UK in February 2023, and in the United States in March 2023, where it became a New York Times bestseller.{{Cite news |title=Hardcover Fiction Books - Best Sellers - Books - March 26, 2023 - The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/best-sellers/2023/03/26/hardcover-fiction/ |access-date=2024-01-20 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} It was described as an "entertaining read" by The Times.{{Cite news |last=Senior |first=Antonia |date=2024-01-16 |title=The latest historical fiction for January 2023 — the lives of two god-struck medieval women |newspaper=The Times |url=https://www.thetimes.com/culture/books/article/the-latest-historical-fiction-for-january-2023-the-lives-of-two-god-struck-medieval-women-nv77tcddc |access-date=2024-01-21 |language=en |issn=0140-0460}} Kirkus Reviews called it "thoughtful and at times harrowing".{{Cite book |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/emilia-hart/weyward/ |title=WEYWARD - Kirkus Reviews |language=en}} On BBC's Between The Covers, it was praised as a "spellbinding debut novel".{{Cite web |title=BBC Arts - BBC Arts - Six thrilling new book releases for your springtime reading list from Between the Covers |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/TTt8D2jphq80b8JB8fjRzP/six-thrilling-new-book-releases-for-your-springtime-reading-list-from-between-the-covers |access-date=2024-01-21 |website=BBC |language=en-GB}} In May 2023, The New York Times included the book in its summer roundup of historical fiction.{{Cite news |last=Becker |first=Alida |date=2023-05-26 |title=During the Dog Days, Escape to the Old Days |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/26/books/review/new-historical-fiction-novels.html |access-date=2024-01-21 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}

Hart's second novel, The Sirens, was published on 13 February 2025. The novel, loosely based on various myths of sirens, mermaids and selkies, is set in Australia, Ireland and aboard a doomed 19th-century British prison ship bound for New South Wales. Like Weyward, this novel has several interconnected female narrators and blends historical fiction with magical realism and a contemporary take on traditional folk tales.https://www.curtisbrown.co.uk/client/emilia-hart

Weyward won two Goodreads Choice Awards in December 2023, for Best Debut Novel and Best Historical Fiction, receiving 45,000 and 62,000 votes in each category, respectively.{{Cite web |title=Meet the Winners of the 2023 Goodreads Choice Awards |url=https://www.goodreads.com/blog/show/2705-meet-the-winners-of-the-2023-goodreads-choice-awards |access-date=2024-01-20 |website=Goodreads}}

• Weyward (2023) {{ISBN|9781250280800}}

• The Sirens (2025) {{ISBN| 9781250390219}}

• "Apples" (Featured in Of the Flesh (2024) {{ISBN|9780008697372}})

{{reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hart, Emilia}}

Category:Year of birth missing (living people)

Category:Living people

Category:21st-century Australian women writers

Category:21st-century Australian novelists

Category:Australian expatriates in England

Category:University of New South Wales alumni

Category:British women novelists

Category:People educated at Barker College