Jessica Gregson

{{Short description|British author}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

{{BLP sources|date=July 2011}}

Jessica Gregson (born 24 June 1978) is a British author.{{cite news|url=http://www.dagbladet.no/kultur/2008/04/28/533806.html|language=Norwegian|title=Kiosklitterært møl|last=Krøger|first=Cathrine|date=28 April 2008|work=Dagbladet|accessdate=8 July 2011}}

==Publications==

Gregson's debut novel The Angel Makers was published in 2007 by PaperBooks. It is based on the true story of The Angel Makers of Nagyrév, two Hungarian women who sold arsenic to unhappily married women to kill their husbands.{{cite book |last1=Gregson |first1=Jessica |title=Angel Makers |date=June 2007 |publisher=PaperBooks Publishing |isbn=9780955109454 |edition=1}}

Her second novel,The Ice Cream Army, was published by Legend Press in July 2009. It is based on the true story of the Battle of Broken Hill, where, in 1915, two men who had emigrated to Australia declared war on the country and attacked a train, killing two of the passengers. The novel is a fictionalised exploration of the racism and prejudice faced by two immigrants in a small town in rural Australia, and the events that led them to take the action that they did.{{cite book |last1=Gregson |first1=Jessica |title=The Ice Cream Army |date=2009 |publisher=Legend Press Ltd |isbn=9781907461125 |edition=1}}

Gregson's most recent novel, After Silence, was published by Deixis Press in August 2022.{{cite book |last1=Gregson |first1=Jessica |title=After Silence |date=August 2022 |publisher=Deixis Press |isbn=9781838498764 |edition=1}} Set during the Siege of Leningrad, the story focuses on a remarkable group of musicians, both soldiers and civilians, who come together to perform Shostakovich's Seventh Symphony. {{cite journal |last1=Stoneham |first1=Julia |title=After Silence |journal=The Historical Novels Review |date=August 2022 |issue=101 |url=https://historicalnovelsociety.org/reviews/after-silence/}}

Personal life

Gregson is the daughter of actor Michael Craig and has lived in Australia, Azerbaijan, Sudan and South Sudan. She worked with refugees in the latter countries, and is now a humanitarian education specialist. She lives in Glasgow. She wrote The Angel Makers while working for the Home Office.{{cite news|url=http://www.dagbladet.no/kultur/2008/04/28/533806.html|language=Norwegian|title=Kiosklitterært møl|last=Krøger|first=Cathrine|date=28 April 2008|work=Dagbladet|accessdate=8 July 2011}}

Gregson has a degree in anthropology from Churchill College at the University of Cambridge. She also holds a master's degree in Development Studies from the London School of Economics and a master's degree in Education from the University of Glasgow.

References