Hi. I’m Grace Jolliffe, I’m a writer and I grew up in Toxteth in Liverpool. Since I was about nine years old, I wanted to be a writer.
I have no idea why that was – I didn’t know any writers, but I did love books and I loved writing stories.
I now live in Galway in Ireland but have many memories of Liverpool, some great and some not so.
My memories influence my writing and I write fiction for both adults and children.
My adult books feature strong female characters. None of my characters has an easy life – they’re all born into poverty, and they have to struggle to survive.
Humour can be a great tool in the survival kit, and Liverpool people are known for their ability to laugh.
Even though some of my stories portray the grittier side of life, there is a lot of fun and laughs along the way.
If you would like to hear news about my new releases and special offers join my reader’s group.
You’ll find the link on the top right of this page.
Sweet Little Things
A heartbreaking story about a real-life Eleanor Rigby – a shy widow is forced to confront her fears when a strange young woman moves next door.
Download Sweet Little Things from Amazon.co.uk
Download Sweet Little Things from Amazon.com
When The Sun Shines
It’s 1970s Liverpool and Josie’s trapped. She’s stuck in a low paid job.
Her horrible boss has made it his mission to get Josie out and she longs to escape to a better life.
Her new relationship could change Josie’s life and she can’t help feeling hopeful. But is she wrong to trust him?
Only time will tell.
Download When The Sun Shines from Amazon.com.uk
Download When The Sun Shines from Amazon.com
The Sunshine Girl
When you don’t want to meet the family.
Josie hates her job and horrible boss but loves her family and charming boyfriend, Mick.
Friends say there’s something funny about Mick but Josie knows they’re wrong.
Truth is, there are two people secretly watching Josie and only one of them is her boss.
When the truth comes out Josie’s whole life turns inside out.
Download The Sunshine Girl from Amazon.com
Download The Sunshine Girl from Amazon.co.uk
Piggy Monk Square
When you make one mistake that changes your life forever. A heartbreaking story told by a young girl with a dark secret. You will laugh and cry.
A policeman lies seriously injured in a Liverpool cellar. Only two little girls know where he is but they’re too scared to tell. Time is running out for the policeman. Will the girls get help before it’s too late?
Download Piggy Monk Square from Amazon.co.uk
Download Piggy Monk Square from Amazon.com
Praise for Grace Jolliffe
Piggy Monk Square
‘A stunningly well-written novel. I didn’t want it to end. Tense, joyous, terrifying, comic, tender, magic and tragic – just like childhood itself.’
Willy Russell
‘Piggy Monk Square is unbearably tense and utterly believable. The voice of its young heroine is so beguiling and convincing that you feel that you’ve met her. And then the story forces you to share her terrible secret. Like the last piece of a jigsaw puzzle: illuminating and satisfying.’
Frank Cottrell Boyce
‘Nine-year-old Rebecca, chirpy as her nickname, “Sparra”, is the lively narrator of this disturbing child’s-eye view of 1970s Toxteth, over which the spectres of poverty and police brutality hang. Her mum and dad quarrel and she hates school, where the sadistic Mr. Shelby hits her for misdemeanours. Sparra and her friend Debbie get their kicks roaming the streets, fighting their arch-enemies Uffo and Lippo, laughing at the drunken antics of crazy Harold and his wife with their dead baby’s pram, and running from the man they call Stabber the psycho-killer. Their favourite place is the cellar of a bombed-out house in Piggy Monk Square, but that is spoilt when a scary cop warns them away. The tables are turned when the cop falls into the cellar and lies there injured. The real punch of this slice-of-life tale comes from the appalling isolation of Sparra’s childhood. The punch leaves you gasping.’
Rachel Hore – The Guardian
‘Capturing the vividness of childhood and the exuberant cadence of Liverpudlian childhood slang. It’s a subtle but compulsively readable novel, combining the bittersweet provincial nostalgia of, say, Meera Syal’s Anita and Me, with a dark and subversive parable that has echoes of Whistle Down the Wind.’
Laurence Phelan – Independent On Sunday
‘A gripping, intriguing page-turner which bears testimony to the craft of Jolliffe…mirrors the first person appeal of the autistic teenager in Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident Of the Dog in the Night Time. Grace’s Liverpool childhood has helped her create a truly believable character in her book. It’s also laced with some wry scouse humour too.’
Mike Chapple – Daily Post
‘Within a very few pages this novel draws you in. Piggy Monk Square deserves success and would certainly make a great film.’
Maria Ross – Publishing News