Carolyn O’Brien
Carolyn is an historical fiction writer from Manchester. Her writing has a strong sense of the north-west of England and its radical past, from the smoke-filled streets of industrial Manchester to the hidden histories of the Lake District where she also has family ties.
Consistently drawn to the struggle for equality, as illustrated in her first novel, The Song of Peterloo and her latest, Rose & Renzo, her work features strong female characters striving to find their place in the world.
Carolyn loved writing stories from an early age and read English at Cambridge University before qualifying as a solicitor. Notwithstanding her long career in land law, her first love has remained literature, and she began writing seriously about ten years ago.
She continues to live near Manchester with her family and regularly enjoys coming up for air in the Lakes.
Carolyn’s X: @carolynmanc
Carolyn’s Instagram: carolynmanc
Carolyn O’Brien is represented at Jenny Brown Associates by Lisa Highton. For all enquiries, contact lisa@jennybrownassociates.com
Books by Carolyn
Rose & Renzo
Northodox Press 2026
Manchester’s Little Italy, 1936
Fascism looms in Europe, and Oswald Mosley’s Blackshirts are on the rise. Aspiring artist, Rose encounters Renzo, a painter just arrived from Europe. Their connection is instant and powerful. Yet Renzo’s past life in Mussolini’s Italy remains a mystery. As Rose is drawn into the fight against fascism, she’s compelled to ask herself the devasting question; which side is Renzo on?
‘A bold and timely achievement’
– Anita Frank
The Song of Peterloo
Legend Press, August 2019
Manchester 1819: Prices are high and wages are low, but as the poor become poorer, the rich are alarmed by their calls for reform. Mill-worker Nancy Kay struggles to support her ailing mother and sensitive son. Desperate to provide for them, she is inspired to join the growing agitation. But, as she risks everything to attend a great assembly on St Peter’s Field, Nancy is unaware the day will go down in history, not as a triumph but as tragedy; the Peterloo massacre. This is one woman’s story of belief in change, pieced together by her family and friends and the two men who share her momentous summer.
Praise for The Song of Peterloo
‘A vivid, moving and beautifully written story’ –Emma Darwin