Jane Robins

Jane Robins is the author of three historical non-fiction books, all featuring notable British trials. Her first Rebel Queen (Simon & Schuster, 2006) is the story of the trial of Queen Caroline for adultery in 1820 and the political events that brought Britain to the brink of revolution. Her second The Magnificent Spilsbury and the Case of the Brides in the Bath (John Murray, 2010) is both a murder story and an exploration of the lives of lower-middle-class women in the years before the First World War. Her most recent work The Curious Habits of Dr Adams (John Murray, 2013) portrays middle-class Eastbourne in the mid-20th century, a world of grand houses, servants and sherry at noon, and a murderous family doctor who plies his patients with monumental doses of morphine. Her work has taken her to archives and libraries across the UK, and she has used in-depth historical research to inform stories that have a natural narrative arc. Since spring 2013 she has been working on her first work of fiction, a contemporary crime novel.

Before turning to books, Jane Robins was a journalist and broadcaster. She has worked as a foreign correspondent in India and south-east Asia for the Economist, in the BBC’s policy unit, and as media editor of the Independent on Sunday. She has also been editor of The Week in Westminster at BBC Radio 4, and retains an interest in British politics and current affairs. She lives in north-west London with her teenage son.