Cressida Downing
Cressida Downing’s novel, Consider the Ravens, was shortlisted for the inaugural Jenny Brown Associates Debut Writers Over 50 Award.
Cressida Downing has worked in bookselling and publishing for over thirty years. As a freelance editorial consultant for the last twenty-five years, she has worked with a variety of publishers and literary agents on both fiction and non-fiction titles, as well as directly with authors. She runs workshops and gives lectures on editing and submission. She also works part-time for the NHS as an ECG practitioner. She and her business partner run the successful www.readingretreat.co.uk taking readers on retreats around the UK. She lives in Cambridge with her husband and two very nearly grown children.
The first two chapters of Consider the Ravens won the inaugural Lindisfarne Prize in 2019 which was set up by best-selling crime writer L. J. Ross, who said ‘Cressida is a natural writer, with an incredible ability to weave a richly textured story.’ Cressida was also shortlisted for the 2023 Genesis Jewish Book Week Emerging Writers Programme.
The book was inspired by Lindisfarne Priory, imagining the tension between a small group of people in a remote wild place. It’s set in the late 15th century, and she has enjoyed researching the time period, the history of manuscript making and early printing, the Church hierarchy of the time, and how women found space for their own talent and endeavours. She is planning a series based on her female scribe, Linnet.
Cressida’s Twitter/X: @DowningCressida
Cressida’s Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CressidaDowningAuthor/
Cressida’s website: www.cressidadowning.com
Cressida is represented at Jenny Brown Associates by Jenny Brown. For all enquiries contact jenny@jennybrownassociates.com
Books by Cressida
Consider the Ravens
No Exit Press, 2026
Lindisfarne in 1494 is a holy island of secrets.
The scribe Linnet is running from her criminal past and seeking sanctuary in the island of her childhood. She’s friendless in the monastery, the monks resentful of a woman scribe, and her only company is Tom the fisherman and a child, Isabelle – watchful, clever and unlikeable – with her partly tamed raven Pol.
The monastery bursar Oswyn threatens to expose Linnet’s past but she isn’t the only one with secrets to hide. Intent upon uncovering the monks’ misdeeds is the fanatic inspector, sent by the new Bishop of Durham to write a report on the monastery.
When Oswyn is found drowned, Linnet suspects the death is not accidental.
After another death, Linnet realises there’s a killer amongst the brethren, and her own precarious position makes her vulnerable – unless she can first identify who it could be…