Jul 22

Jul 22 Eileen Thornton

Author Eileen Thornton

Biography

Eileen Thornton was born and brought up on Tyneside. She moved to London when she was married, but now lives in Kelso in the Scottish Borders.

She began writing articles and short stories for national magazines after finishing a comprehensive writing course with The Writers Bureau in 2001. These magazines include The People’s Friend, The Lady and Scottish Life. A couple of her short stories also appeared in Anthologies.

However, writing short stories can be rather restricting. People of all ages buy magazines. Therefore, the stories had to fit in with readers in all walks of life. After a few years, Eileen felt the need to move on and write a novel; something with a little more grit.

Her first published novel was The Trojan Project, a suspenseful, intriguing thriller. The kind of novel readers can get their teeth into. What fits the bill better than a conspiracy in the British Government to build a weapon of mass destruction? A terrifying weapon that, when released, would cause indescribable death to those caught in its path.

Moving on from there, Eileen went on to write a fun romance, Divorcees.Biz. A novel she hoped would show her readers that there was a lighter, more fun side to her personality. This story tells of how four divorced ladies, living in London, suddenly decide to set up their own dating agency in order to find themselves new men.

Only Twelve Days was her next novel. This is a charming love story set back in the late 1970’s; a time before computers and mobile phones took over. The outline of this story had been mulling around in her head for some time before she actually got around to writing it.

Shortly after it was published, Eileen then decided to put together a collection of her short stories previously published in UK magazines. This anthology is called A Surprise for Christine. The stories are all light-hearted and so easy to read. Some are really quite uplifting, if you happen to be feeling a little down.

In recent years, Eileen has turned to writing a cosy mystery series. The first in the series is Murder on Tyneside. The main character is Agnes Lockwood. She just happens to be visiting Tyneside to catch up with her past, but ends up being a new female sleuth. This novel was followed by Death on Tyneside and, more recently, Vengeance on Tyneside. At the moment Eileen is working on the fourth novel in the series.

She is a member of the Society of Authors and also a member of the Society of Women Writers and Journalists.