Francesca May Books in Order

Francesca May grew up in the middle of England, where fantasy stories were a big part of childhood. She spent those early years reading widely in the genre and brewing imaginary potions in the garden, a fitting start for a writer whose novels now feature magic, secrets, and a little menace.

Bookselling has been another important part of her life. May works at Waterstones, spending her days around readers and the shelves they return to again and again. In interviews, she has spoken about handling sections that range from young adult fiction and science fiction to crime, manga, and graphic novels. It is a job built on knowing that different readers come looking for different kinds of escape.

Before publishing fantasy under the name Francesca May, she wrote psychological thrillers and gothic suspense as Fran Dorricott. Those books include After the Eclipse, The Final Child, and The Lighthouse. They show another side of her interests: tense situations, uneasy family histories, and people carrying more than they can say aloud.

Then she turned those interests toward witches and queer gothic fantasy.

Her debut as Francesca May, Wild and Wicked Things, arrived in 2022. Set in the aftermath of the First World War, it follows Annie Mason as she comes to Crow Island to settle the estate of the father she never knew. Instead of a quiet task, Annie finds a glamorous island society, old friendship wounds, illicit parties, and the magnetic Emmeline Delacroix, a neighbor rumored to be a witch. The book became a Sunday Times number two hardback bestseller in the UK.

The story makes room for blood bargains, grief, romance, and the pressure of choosing what kind of life to live. Its Jazz Age setting brings the sparkle, but the tension comes from what lies behind the bright lights. Readers drawn to tangled relationships and dangerous magic will find plenty to follow in Annie, Bea, and Emmeline's lives.

May returned to gothic fantasy with This Vicious Hunger. Here, Thora Grieve is widowed, outcast, and short of options when she is offered the chance to study botany under a famous professor. At the university, she notices Olea, a mysterious woman who tends the poisonous plants in a private garden. As Thora tries to understand Olea's illness, desire and curiosity turn into something far more consuming.

Beauty can be dangerous in a Francesca May novel.

Across her work, she comes back to haunted houses, gardens, witchcraft, secrets, and women trying to claim a little freedom in places designed to limit them. The romance is central, but it rarely comes without risk. Her characters want knowledge, belonging, safety, or love, and often have to decide what they are willing to pay for it.

May lives in Derby with her partner, rescue dogs, and black cats. She still works as a bookseller, still writes across dark corners of fantasy and suspense, and has also admitted to being hard on houseplants. It is a small detail, but it suits an author whose fictional gardens are much more likely to bite back.