Catherine O'Flynn

1970–

English novelist born in Birmingham to Irish parents. She studied economics and anthropology at the University of Manchester and worked as a record-shop deputy manager, a postwoman, a web editor and a mystery shopper. Her debut, What Was Lost (2007), turned down by larger publishers before Tindal Street Press took it on, is set around a Midlands shopping centre and follows the aftermath of a girl’s disappearance in the 1980s. It won the Costa First Novel Award. Later books include The News Where You Are and Mr Lynch’s Holiday. What Was Lost was longlisted for the 2007 Man Booker Prize.

Timeline of Catherine O'Flynn’s life

Works

• What Was Lost (2007)

Prizes

• What Was Lost — The Booker Prize 2007: Longlist