Kate Leaver
Sophie Mackintosh
Specialisms:
Short stories, speculative fiction, literary.
Services offered:
Three and six month mentoring.
Sophie says:
I'm a writer and freelance content manager based in London. My first novel, The Water Cure - a speculative feminist revenge story set in the near-future, following three sisters who live on an isolated island - was published by Hamish Hamilton in May 2018 and is forthcoming from Doubleday in January 2019. I've previously worked as an English and art tutor, will be teaching on the University of Warwick fiction summer school, and will be teaching a module on science fiction and fantasy this autumn term on the University of Warwick creative writing MA.
I am also a prize-winning short fiction writer, winning The White Review Short Story Prize in 2016, the Virago x Stylist Short Story Prize in 2016, and being shortlisted for the Berlin Writing Prize in 2017.
The Water Cure:
Longlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2018.
Blurb:
Grace, Lia and Sky live in an abandoned hotel, on a sun-bleached island, beside a poisoned sea. Their parents raised them there to keep them safe, to make them good. The world beyond the water is contaminated and men are the contamination. But one day three strangers wash ashore - men who stare at the sisters hungrily, helplessly. Men who bring trouble.
The Handmaid's Tale meets The Virgin Suicides in this dystopic feminist revenge fantasy about three sisters on an isolated island, raised to fear men.
Reviews:
'A gripping, sinister fable!'- Margaret Atwood, via Twitter.
'I loved this book. It rushes you through to the end on a tide of tension and closely held panic. Eerie, beautiful, electric' - Daisy Johnson, author of Everything Under and Fen
'Creepy and sexy in equal measure, The Water Cure is a hypnotic portrait of three young women waking up to the world, desire, and the power of their bodies' - The Independent
'Eerily beautiful, this strange, unsettling novel creeps up and grabs hold of you' - Paula Hawkins, New York Times bestselling author of Girl on the Train
Read more about Sophie's debut novel The Water Cure here >>
More resources:
Website: sophiemackintosh.co.uk
Follow Sophie: @fairfairisles
What folk have to say about working with Sophie...
'Sophie Mackintosh is an intelligent, witty, fun mentor. Before we started, she made sure she clearly understood my plot and what I wanted from the mentor scheme. Her feedback was detailed while remaining respectful to my story. Above all I enjoyed our Skype calls where our conversations flowed easily about a vast range of topics, including the writing process, my themes and characters, and industry information. These conversations even more than the thorough feedback helped me develop my work into a much stronger, more interesting story.'
Michelle Garrett - 3-month Mentoring Scheme
