- Photo by Pete Bedwell
Lauren James was born in 1992 and is the British Young Adult author of The Loneliest Girl in the Universe and The Next Together series. She graduated in 2014 from the University of Nottingham, UK, where she studied Chemistry and Physics.
She started writing during secondary school English classes, because she couldn’t stop thinking about a couple who kept falling in love throughout history. She sold the rights to the novel when she was 21, whilst she was still at university.
Her books have sold over fifty thousand copies in the UK alone, and been translated into five languages worldwide. The Bookseller called her ‘funny, romantic and compulsively readable’ and Kirkus said ‘An ambitious, promising premise . . . James is one to watch’. She has been longlisted for the Branford Boase Award, a prize given to recognise an outstanding novel by a first time writer.
Her other novels include The Last Beginning, the epic conclusion to The Next Together which was named one of the best LGBT-inclusive works for kids and young adults by the Independent, who called it ‘ideal for teenagers. The Last Beginning is on the ball’. Two short stories set in the world of The Next Together series, Another Together and Another Beginning, are also available.
The Loneliest Girl in the Universe was inspired by a Physics calculation she was assigned at university. Lauren is a passionate advocate of STEM further education, and all of her books feature scientists in prominent roles.
She lives in the West Midlands and is an Arts Council grant recipient. She has written articles for the Guardian, Buzzfeed and The Toast, and wrote an article for the Children’s Writers and Artist’s Yearbook 2019. She works with Writing West Midlands, providing creative writing courses to children through the Spark Young Writers programme.
Contact Information
- Email: laurenelizjames@gmail.com
- Literary Agent & Film Enquiries: Claire Wilson (Rogers, Coleridge and White)
- Publicist: Kirsten Cozens at Walker
- School visits: here
- FAQ here
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Photo by The Bookseller
The Loneliest Girl In The Universe
Can you fall in love with someone you’ve never met, never even spoken to – someone who is light years away?
Romy Silvers is the only surviving crew-member of a spaceship travelling to a new planet, on a mission to establish a second home for humanity amongst the stars. Alone in space, she is the loneliest girl in the universe until she hears about a new ship which has launched from Earth – with a single passenger on board. A boy called J.
Their only communication with each other is via email – and due to the distance between them, their messages take months to transmit across space. And yet Romy finds herself falling in love.
But what does Romy really know about J? And what do the mysterious messages which have started arriving from Earth really mean?
Sometimes, there’s something worse than being alone . . .
UK/ANZ – Walker Books, out now | US – HarperCollins, July 2018 | Amazon UK | Waterstones | Goodreads | More Information
The Next Together
How many times can you lose the person you love?
Katherine and Matthew are destined to be born again and again, century after century. Each time, their presence changes history for the better, and each time, they fall hopelessly in love, only to be tragically separated.
Spanning the Crimean War, the Siege of Carlisle and the near-future of 2019 and 2039 they find themselves sacrificing their lives to save the world. But why do they keep coming back? What else must they achieve before they can be left to live and love in peace? Maybe the next together will be different…
A powerful and epic debut novel for teenagers about time-travel, fate and the timelessness of first love. The Next Together is told through a mixture of regular prose, diary entries, letters, “original” historical documents, news reports and internet articles.
Goodreads | Amazon UK
The Last Beginning
Sixteen years ago, after a scandal that rocked the world, teenagers Katherine and Matthew vanished without a trace. Now Clove Sutcliffe is determined to find her long lost relatives…
But where do you start looking for a couple who seem to have been reincarnated at every key moment in history? Who were Kate and Matt? Why were they born again and again? And who is the mysterious Ella, who keeps appearing at every turn in Clove’s investigation?
For Clove, there is a mystery to solve in the past and a love to find in the future.
Goodreads | Amazon UK
Another Together
“Are you absolutely certain this is safe?” Matthew Galloway asked.
A short story of intrigue and murder set in the world of The Next Together series. Winter, 1940: there is a murderer on the loose at Bletchley Park, the headquarters of Britain’s most daring codebreaking operation against the Nazis. Can two young codebreakers Kitty and Matthew catch the killer?
This standalone short story can be enjoyed by new readers and existing fans of Lauren James’s The Next Together series.
Goodreads | Amazon Kindle | First Chapter | More Information
Another Beginning
“Elenore Walker, ancient literature thief. It makes an odd sort of sense, actually,” Clove said.
Clove is working as a maid in the Finchley household while she spies on Katherine Finchley and Matthew Galloway. But her mission is briefly interrupted when fellow maid Ella persuades her to help steal a valuable historical document from the main defence in the city – the castle. The two girls embark on a risky adventure involving scaling castle walls and hiding in the most unlikely of places!
Another Beginning is a companion story to The Last Beginning, set during the siege of Carlisle in 1745, featuring the much-loved protagonists Clove and Ella.
Goodreads | Amazon Kindle | More Information
If you’re looking for something else to read…..
