Nicci French


Nicci French is the pseudonym of English husband-and-wife team Nicci Gerrard and Sean French, who write psychological thrillers together.

Personal lives

Nicci Gerrard and Sean French were married in 1990. Since 1999 they have lived in Suffolk in East Anglia, England. Both have studied english literature at Oxford University. The couple has two daughters, Hadley and Molly, and Gerrard has two children from her first marriage, Edgar and Anna.

Biography

Nicci Gerrard

Nicola 'Nicci' Gerrard was born on 10 June 1958. She grew up in Worcestershire, together with her two sisters and her brother.
She was educated at The Alice Ottley School in Worcester. She then studied English literature at Oxford University and then an MPhil at Sheffield University in 1986. She went on to teach literature in Los Angeles and London. She founded a women's magazine before becoming a freelance journalist. During that time she married and had two children.
Following the failure of this first marriage, she met Sean French whilst working as editor for the New Statesman where French wrote a weekly column, but left when she was offered another job at The Observer.
In November 2014 her father John Gerrard died, his dementia having deteriorated significantly during a five-week stay in hospital for an unrelated problem and with very restricted visiting by his family. As a result of this Gerrard launched John's Campaign for extended visiting rights for carers of patients with dementia.
Since February 2019, Gerrard has supported the 'Save Our Libraries Essex' campaign, speaking out against the proposed closures of libraries by Essex County Council.

Sean French

Julian Sean French was born on 28 May 1959 in Bristol, the son of Philip French, a radio producer and film critic, and his Swedish-born wife Kerstin. He was, like his two younger brothers Patrick and Karl, educated at William Ellis secondary school in north London before studying English literature at Oxford University. The couple never met while there. While at Oxford University, French won a young writers contest organised by Vogue, and subsequently became a journalist.
In 1987 he gained his first column and until the end of 2000 he wrote a column for the New Statesman. His solo novel Start from Here was published in 2004.

Works

as Nicci French