The Reckless Afterlife of Harriet Stoker by Lauren James

In Room 3C she found a muscular white boy stretched out on a bed frame. Harriet brushed back her hair, straightened her shoulders, and went to find Jonesy. 'Go and ask Jonesy, and stop bothering me.' “Whatever,” he muttered, and stuck his head into the plasterboard. I really appreciate it,” she said, instead. Harriet’s pride almost stopped her from saying that she had thought that this was the afterlife. He was clearly almost done with Harriet, and had his ear to the wall again.

“Unless you can cross over, nothing from you.”

“What do you want?” She twisted a curl of hair around her finger, tilting her head sweetly at him. “Not for anything you can offer, princess.” She has taught creative writing for Coventry University, WriteMentor, and Writing West Midlands.The guy let out a laugh. She has written articles for numerous publications, including the Guardian, Buzzfeed, Den of Geek, The Toast, and the Children’s Writers and Artist’s Yearbook 2022. Lauren lives in the West Midlands and is an Arts Council grant recipient. Her writing has been described as ‘gripping romantic sci-fi’ by the Wall Street Journal and ‘a strange, witty, compulsively unpredictable read which blows most of its new YA-suspense brethren out of the water’ by Entertainment Weekly. She sold the rights to her first novel when she was 21, whilst she was still at university. Lauren is a passionate advocate of STEM further education, and many of her books feature female scientists in prominent roles. She was born in 1992, and has a Masters degree from the University of Nottingham, where she studied Chemistry and Physics. Her other novels include The Next Together series, the dyslexia-friendly novella series The Watchmaker and the Duke and serialised online novel An Unauthorised Fan Treatise. The Quiet at the End of the World was shortlisted for the YA Book Prize and STEAM Children’s Book Award.

Her books have sold over a hundred thousand copies worldwide and been translated into six languages. Lauren is the founder of the Climate Fiction Writers League, and on the board of the Authors & Illustrators Sustainability Working Group through the Society of Authors. She is a RLF Royal Fellow, freelance editor and screenwriter. Lauren James is the twice Carnegie-nominated British author of many Young Adult novels, including Green Rising, The Reckless Afterlife of Harriet Stoker and The Loneliest Girl in the Universe.

The Reckless Afterlife of Harriet Stoker by Lauren James