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Susannah Stapleton

@susannahstapleton.bsky.social
260 followers 104 following 61 posts

Reader, writer, collector, maker. Author of That Dark Spring (2025) and The Adventures of Maud West, Lady Detective (2019).

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Susannah Stapleton @susannahstapleton.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
So, this happened last night — a huge surprise and a wonderful evening! Congratulations to my fellow Dagger winners and many, many thanks to @thecwa.bsky.social and @alcs.co.uk.
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George Morley @georgeisediting.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
Permit a retired person a moment's boasting. So very pleased that my lovely former author @susannahstapleton.bsky.social won the non-fiction dagger last night & I was there to see her do so! #ThatDarkSpring is a perfect summer read too. So off you go ...
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Susannah Stapleton @susannahstapleton.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
Shortlisted! Hooray!
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Susannah Stapleton @susannahstapleton.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
Very pleased to be in such fine company with That Dark Spring. Thank you, @thecwa.bsky.social
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Lissa Evans @lissakevans.bsky.social · 13/06/2025
I've just been shown a copy of 'Look and Learn' (1960s magazine for children) by friend @susannahstapleton.bsky.social and we've become slightly hysterical over the idea that the average 11 year old might be tempted to pore over a full page article on the novels of George Meredith.
Front cover of Look and LearnArticle on George MeredithFeature on Meredith's novel 'The Egoist'
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Susannah Stapleton @susannahstapleton.bsky.social · 14/05/2025
One of the joys of historical research is revealing unexpected connections as you get to know your subject. This one was a real surprise, and a tad intimidating, but I'm glad to report that he seems delighted with my book about his Great Aunt Olive. #ahem1stcousintwiceremoved #phew #ThatDarkSpring
virgin.com
That Dark Spring: Stumbling upon an eccentric family story | Virgin
This is the story of my (murdered) Great Aunt Olive who was found dead in a water tank in the South of France with a single bullet in her head
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Susannah Stapleton @susannahstapleton.bsky.social · 08/05/2025
Happy news for the wonderful, brilliant George; bittersweet for the rest of us. But, if anyone deserves to put their feet up, it's @georgeisediting.bsky.social. A great editor and a lovely person to boot. ❤️
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Susannah Stapleton @susannahstapleton.bsky.social · 25/04/2025
Ah, yes. I probably should have mentioned this. I have a new book out! Published yesterday, and one that was a joy to research and write. All good bookshops, etc., thanks to @georgeisediting.bsky.social and all the fab folk at @picadorbooks.bsky.social uk.bookshop.org/p/books/that...
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Susannah Stapleton @susannahstapleton.bsky.social · 24/01/2025
There are two exhibitions in London/Essex that I was really excited about seeing over the next couple of months. I may yet get to go. And maybe you can, too? They would make a fantastic weekend. Here’s a clue.
Paperback copy of Leonora Carrington's novella 'The Hearing Trumpet' propped up against pots containing paintbrushes,
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Susannah Stapleton @susannahstapleton.bsky.social · 24/01/2025
PSA: I'm confined to barracks again by my Pesky Brain Disease. Screens are painful, but I do miss chatting with my online bookish friends. As I can't participate fully, I will be randomly sharing goodies when I can. My skyline will look weird & self-centred, but so be it. 'tis temporary.
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Sally Pointer @sallypointer.bsky.social · 17/12/2024
I'm currently filming the projects for my online 'Introduction to Prehistoric Textiles' class that starts on January 14. My classes include projects in easily sourced materials as well as the full scale versions in the types of materials used in the past.
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Susannah Stapleton @susannahstapleton.bsky.social · 22/11/2024
I was a beta reader for this fab book. 1930s Greek archaeology, ancient spirits and a gutsy young heroine - I loved it all (and my younger self would have, too).
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Susannah Stapleton @susannahstapleton.bsky.social · 20/11/2024
Fresh out of the oven c.1930, but I still fancy a nibble. And that’s why I’m not allowed to work in museums anymore.
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Lissa Evans @lissakevans.bsky.social · 20/11/2024
My girls, adopted from foster care, arrived with few possessions, apart from a box of books they'd each been given by @Booktrust. These books, read together, became our first shared memories. Spread the joy of reading by donating this Christmas: www.booktrust.org.uk/xmas
An illustration from 'Where the Wild Things Are' by Maurice Sendak, showing the Wild Things swinging through the trees.Two little girls, swinging from a bar, like Wild Things!
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Susannah Stapleton @susannahstapleton.bsky.social · 19/11/2024
Shropshire weather report: cold and fluffy.
A sapling covered in snow
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Susannah Stapleton @susannahstapleton.bsky.social · 15/11/2024
4/4 My shed is also where I write books. My first book, The Adventures of Maud West, Lady Detective came out in 2019. After a little break(down) while I dealt with a pesky brain disease, That Dark Spring is coming out in April 2025. I will no doubt bang on about this in due course.
Book cover for The Adventures of Maud West, Lady DetectiveBook cover for That Dark Spring
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Susannah Stapleton @susannahstapleton.bsky.social · 15/11/2024
3/4 I love tinkering in my shed. Most of it comes to nothing, but occasionally something works. This is a simple automata I made a few years back using beach-combing finds and inspired by Dylan Thomas’s Under Milk Wood. I also knit, sew, paint and hammer stuff in an equally hit-and-miss fashion.
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Susannah Stapleton @susannahstapleton.bsky.social · 15/11/2024
2/4 I’m a collector. In an attempt to tame some of my hoarding tendencies, I’m creating a museum in my downstairs loo called the British Looseum. There are still boxes of stuff to display and it also turns out to be very hard to photograph, but here goes. More to come as it fills up.
A wall of small museum exhibits, including a bird skull and old microscope slides.
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Susannah Stapleton @susannahstapleton.bsky.social · 15/11/2024
Isn’t it lovely here? By way of introduction, I thought I’d expand a bit on my bio. First up (1/4): I love reading. This is the current pile – a mixture of treasure hunting, dissolute Russian counts, space crones and practical exercises involving arsenic and chloroform. All excellent.
A shelf of books: Oblomov by Goncharov, Magical Treasure Hunting in Europe and North America by Dillinger, Space Crone by Ursula Le Guin, and How to Make a Home Nature Museum by Brown.
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Susannah Stapleton @susannahstapleton.bsky.social · 14/11/2024
Testing… testing…
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