Jenny O'Brien
Official Site of
Jenny O'Brien.
Best Selling, Multi-Genre Author
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Inspired by the true story of a woman who used knitting patterns to encode intelligence during World War Two.
Guernsey, 2010. After a stroke, an elderly woman shocks her family by speaking perfect French – a language they never knew she possessed. As her granddaughter unravels seventy years of silence, a hidden wartime story emerges...
Paris, 1941. After her brother is declared missing in action at Dunkirk, eighteen-year-old Lenny Gallienne vanishes into Churchill’s secret army. In a bookshop on Rue de la Pompe, she poses as a simple shop girl while encoding intelligence from Nazi headquarters into knitting patterns. Each sweater smuggled to prisoners contains flight paths. Each scarf holds radio frequencies. Each mistake means execution.
Fellow agent, Harry Dennison, is the only person who knows her real name. But when the Gestapo close in, Lenny faces an impossible choice in the Metro tunnels beneath Paris – one that will haunt her family for generations. Because in the resistance, the most dangerous secrets are the ones you keep from those you love most.
Perfect for fans of The Nightingale, The Alice Network and The Last Bookshop in London.
Contact
For any media inquiries, please contact Storm Publishing.
Reviews
The writing is stunning. Addictive. I couldn’t put it down. It’s rare I’ll go without sleep, I went without sleep for this one.
I have no negative thoughts on Silent Cry. The story was cinematic and believable.
Set in Wales, a beautiful part of the country, this crime story had me gripped from the beginning.
Realistic police procedure.
The Puppet Maker is a gripping and intense ride through the tangled web of family lies and betrayals. This domestic thriller will keep you guessing until the very end
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Bio
Hello and welcome.
I am delighted you've found my little slice of the Internet.
A little about me.
I was born in Ireland. I always thought I'd like to be a writer. It took thirty years of working as a rehabilitation nurse to finally realise that ambition.
I have always been a reader, writing for me was a natural progression from my love of books. I am working on Book 22 so there have been a lot of words added over the years. I counted them once. Well over a million.
I started writing for children (Boy Brainy) then romances (My Englishwoman series) before shifting to crime and The Stepsister, which stayed top of the UK charts for 5 weeks when it was published. Most recently I have written the Gaby Darin Welsh-set detective series, published by Harper Collins. After, I wrote the Detective Alana Mack Series, which is set in my hometown of Dublin.
I have lived on the island of Guernsey for 35 years and am currently working on The List of Lost Children, my first historical novel, set during the German Occupation. It's a huge deviation for me but something I am very proud of.
Outside of writing, I am married. There are three adult children and a cat or two around too.
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Finally I'm represented by
Nicola Barr of The Bent Agency and published by Storm Publishing and HQ Digital (Harper Collins).
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Thank you.
Jenny O'B
News & Events
Guernsey Literary Festival!
At the Guille Alles Library, Guernsey.
Saturday 26st April, 2025
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