Welcome to Penny Hancock’s website!

Penny Hancock is the author of novels The Ingenious Miss Sly, The Choice, Tideline, (a Richard and Judy Bookclub pick in 2012), The Darkening Hour, A Trick of the Mind and I Thought I Knew You. She has also written widely on family and relationships for mainstream media including the Guardian, the Times, the Independent, and Psychologies magazine and has published several short stories.

Penny’s newest book The Ingenious Miss Sly is out now

Front cover of 'The Ingenious Miss Sly' book, showing fingers reeaching around a curtain holding it back

As the coldest winter ever grips London, things are stirring under the snow. New music, new fashions, and a woman who will go further than most to be seen. 

The Ingenious Miss Sly will appeal to lovers of novels set in the early 1960s, such as Lessons in Chemistry (Bonnie Garmus), The Land in Winter (Andrew Miller) and The Safekeep (Yael Van Der Wouden). It is also for  those who enjoy character based thrillers such as Shirley Jackson’s We Have Always Lived in the Castle, and Patricia Highsmith’s The Talented Mr Ripley.

Read more about the book Buy on Amazon

About Penny Hancock

A qualified teacher, Penny has taught from early primary to post graduate, and has recently been the Royal Literary Fellow at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge.

Penny is passionate about encouraging and teaching new writers. Do have a look at her Writing School page for information on her courses and mentoring schemes.

In addition to writing, Penny enjoys reading, psychology, swimming (the colder the water the better!) and bread making. She has three grown up children and lives just outside Cambridge.

Penny also writes a substack newsletter The New Grandparenting, under the name Annie Pepper – see our newsletter page for more details.

What people are saying about The Ingenious Miss Sly…

Lesley Kara, best selling author of The Rumour and Trouble Maker

’A dark, exquisitely controlled psychological thriller threaded with menace and deeply unsettling. With shades of both Highsmith and Rendell, this is not to be missed.’

David Lambert, author of The House at Bacolet

'Ripley meets Notes on a Scandal'

Susan Elliott Wright, author of All You Ever Wanted

"Thrilling and utterly compelling"

Kate Rhodes, author of the Scilly Isles Mysteries

"Tense, twisty and brilliant"

Cressida Downing, author of Consider the Ravens

"Chilling"

Find Penny’s Books on Amazon…

Front cover of A Trick Of The Mind by Penny Hancock
front cover of The Darkening Hour by Penny Hancock
Front Cover of Tideline by Penny Hancock

Leaving online reviews

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