The Valentine House

I was totally seduced by this vivid, complex and enthralling novel - Woman & Home

A beautifully written, tender book, which rewards patient reading. - The Times

This poetic and nuanced novel expertly reveals the complexity of Mathilde’s relationship with the glamorous yet troubled family that has fuelled her feelings of exclusion yet fired her imagination … [a work] of illuminating beauty - Financial Times

Henderson’s Grace Williams Says It Loud was shortlisted for the Orange Prize and this more than matches it. Gripping and poignant, it is also a passionate love letter to a landscape that has captivated the author - Daily Mail

A lively, complex novel, and Mathilde is a splendid character - Mail on Sunday

I love her writing! I totally loved Grace Williams Says It Loud. The Valentine House is another compulsive, original read told with a delicious wit, while remaining harsh and mysteriously life-affirming. How does she do it? - Helen Lederer

Engrossing - Boundless

An intriguing tale of two cultures - France Magazine

Emma Henderson’s first novel, Grace Williams Says It Loud (Sceptre, 2010), won the McKitterick Prize and was shortlisted for the Orange Prize, the Wellcome Book Prize, the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best First Book and the Authors’ Club First Novel Award, as well as being runner-up for the Mind Book of the Year.

Emma Henderson worked at Penguin as a copywriter for two years, then spent a decade teaching English in comprehensive schools and further education colleges before moving to the French Alps where, for six years, she ran a ski and snowboard lodge. Having studied at Oxford and Yale University, she is now a lecturer in English and Creative Writing at Keele University. She lives in Derbyshire.