Jane Johnson is from Cornwall and has worked in the book industry for 20 years, as a bookseller, publisher and writer.
She was responsible for publishing the works of J R R Tolkien during the 1980s and 1990s and worked on Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings movie trilogy, spending many months in New Zealand with cast and crew. Under the pseudonym of Jude Fisher she wrote three bestselling Visual Companions to the films. She has also written several books for children.
In 2005 she was in Morocco researching the story of a distant family member who was abducted from a Cornish church in 1625 by Barbary pirates and sold into slavery in North Africa (which formed the basis for Crossed Bones / The Tenth Gift), when a near-fatal climbing incident caused her to rethink her future.
She returned home, gave up her office job in London, sold her flat and shipped the contents to Morocco. In October she married her own 'Berber pirate' and now they split their time between Cornwall and a village in the Anti-Atlas Mountains.
She still works, remotely, as Fiction Publishing Director for HarperCollins.
She was responsible for publishing the works of J R R Tolkien during the 1980s and 1990s and worked on Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings movie trilogy, spending many months in New Zealand with cast and crew. Under the pseudonym of Jude Fisher she wrote three bestselling Visual Companions to the films. She has also written several books for children.
In 2005 she was in Morocco researching the story of a distant family member who was abducted from a Cornish church in 1625 by Barbary pirates and sold into slavery in North Africa (which formed the basis for Crossed Bones / The Tenth Gift), when a near-fatal climbing incident caused her to rethink her future.
She returned home, gave up her office job in London, sold her flat and shipped the contents to Morocco. In October she married her own 'Berber pirate' and now they split their time between Cornwall and a village in the Anti-Atlas Mountains.
She still works, remotely, as Fiction Publishing Director for HarperCollins.
Genres: Historical, General Fiction
New and upcoming books
Series
Moroccan
1. The Tenth Gift (2008)
aka Crossed Bones
2. The Salt Road (2010)
3. The Sultan's Wife (2012)
1. The Tenth Gift (2008)
aka Crossed Bones
2. The Salt Road (2010)
3. The Sultan's Wife (2012)
Novels
Maskmaker (2010)
Goldseekers (2011)
Pillars of Light (2016)
Court of Lions (2017)
The Sea Gate (2020)
The White Hare (2022)
The Black Crescent (2023)
Secrets of the Bees (2025)
Goldseekers (2011)
Pillars of Light (2016)
Court of Lions (2017)
The Sea Gate (2020)
The White Hare (2022)
The Black Crescent (2023)
Secrets of the Bees (2025)
Books containing stories by Jane Johnson
Jane Johnson recommends
The Mischief Makers (2024)
Elisabeth Gifford
"This is a glorious novel, one you will lose yourself in, and adore. The evocations of beautiful, timeless Fowey and the Cornish coast work in powerful counterpoint to the tides of love and war. Gifford's prose is limpid and seductive; the sweep of history and Daphne du Maurier's rise to literary stardom are gorgeously delineated. I have looked forward every day to returning to its pages."
The Lost Queen (2024)
Carol McGrath
"An excellent read, meticulously researched, beautifully told. Berengaria is a delicious heroine, thoroughly engaging - a refreshingly unusual viewpoint for this epic tale."
The Fair Folk (2024)
Su Bristow
"Dark and brooding and half-familiar, the tale steals over you till you're half-in, half-out of a dream."
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