Emmeline Fernandez writes psychological thrillers from the coast of Maine, where she lives with her husband and four (yes, four) rescue dogs, who ensure there is never a dull—or particularly quiet—moment.

A writer since childhood, she took a long detour through academia, earning an MA and MLitt in eighteenth-century literature from the University of Warwick and the University of Oxford, respectively, followed by a PhD from The Ohio State University. She’s always happy to talk Mary Wollstonecraft or Charlotte Smith, but eventually found her way back to telling dark stories about complicated people.

She is currently at work on her debut novel, an atmospheric thriller exploring the long aftershocks of crime in a small community and the thin, shifting borders between guilt and innocence. When she’s writing, she’s rarely without a cup of green tea and a generous supply of “writing snacks” (otherwise known as sweets). When she’s not writing, she’s usually thinking about it while wandering the woods with her dogs and imagining all the ways things could go wrong.