CJ Skuse

Claire Joanna Skuse (born 1980) is an English novelist and formerly a senior lecturer in creative writing. She began her career writing young adult (YA) fiction, publishing five novels, and was named a key figure in the "rise of YA antiheroines" by The Guardian.^[1] She then moved into adult thrillers with the release of Sweetpea (2017) and its sequels.

Skuse was born in Weston-super-Mare to parents Jenny and Colin, who ran local pubs and hotels, including the Britannia Inn.^[2]

Skuse was 17 when she began writing and trying to pitch to publishers. She went on to graduate with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Creative English Studies and a Master of Arts (MA) in Writing for Young People, both from Bath Spa University.^[3] She also has a PhD by Publication, which she received from the University of Gloucestershire in 2025. She previously worked in a nursery alongside her studies and once had internships at the Weston Mercury and the County Gazette in Taunton.^[4]

After graduating from university, Skuse landed a job as a publishing assistant at The Chicken House in Frome, through which she published her debut young adult (YA) novel Pretty Bad Things, about 16-year-old twins who go on a petty crime spree.^[5] The novel won the inaugural 2011 Dumfries and Burgh Book Award.^[6] It was also shortlisted for Lancashire Book of the Year. This was followed by Skuse's second and third YA novels Rockoholic, about a fan of a rock band,^[7] and Dead Romantic, a modern Weird Science retelling.^[8] The latter was shortlisted for a 2014 BookTrust Best Book Award.^[9]

Skuse was credited in The Guardian with pioneering a "YA antiheroine" trend from the publication of Pretty Bad Things,^[1] and she wrote a 2015 article in the publication on her penchant for writing "angry girl" lead characters.^[10] Via HarperCollins and MIRA Ink, Skuse published her fourth and fifth YA novels Monsters (2015), a boarding school-set thriller,^[11] and The Deviants (2016), about an estranged friend group in a coastal town.^[12] The French translation of The Deviants won the 2017 Jean Monnet University Student Literary Prize.^[13]

In 2016, HQ (a Harlequin and HarperCollins imprint) acquired the rights to publish Skuse's first adult novel Sweetpea in 2017.^[14] The dark comedy thriller is told through the diary entries of character Rhiannon Lewis, a wallflower-appearing compulsive serial killer.^[15][16] Skuse then published a sequel In Bloom in 2018.^[17]

In the interim, Skuse published a standalone adult thriller novel The Alibi Girl, also via HQ in 2020, about a woman who assumes multiple identities.^[18]

Skuse returned to the Sweetpea series in 2021 with a third instalment Dead Head.^[19][20] This was followed by the fourth and fifth novels in the series Thorn in My Side^[21] and The Bad Seeds in 2023 and 2024 respectively.^[22]

Ahead of the release of Sweetpea in 2017, See-Saw Films optioned the rights to adapt the novel for television.^[23] In 2020, it was announced Sky Atlantic had ordered 8 episodes of the series, with Kirstie Swain attached to pen the adaptation.^[24] Starring Ella Purnell as Rhiannon Lewis, the series was released in October 2024 with a second series due for transmission in late 2026.^[25]

• Sweetpea (2017)
• In Bloom (2018)
• Dead Head (2021)
• Thorn in My Side (2023)
• The Bad Seeds (2024)
• Darling Bud: a companion novel to the Sweetpea series (2026)

• Pretty Bad Things (2009)
• Rockoholic (2011)
• Dead Romantic (2013)
• Monster (2015)
• The Deviants (2016)

• The Alibi Girl (2020)
• Untitled (2027)