Sheffield Author | Kate Mitchell

Kate Mitchell

Kate wanted to be a writer all her life but was diverted by the need to earn a proper living. After numerous jobs including working in factories and offices, as an au pair in Switzerland, waitress in Amsterdam, a prison officer in Holloway, and then with homeless women in Soho, she joined the probation service. This career, which included working in prisons and the community with a wide range of victims and offenders, eventually brought her to Sheffield. The decision to go on an Arvon Foundation course, and have a go at writing, was the turning point. She enrolled for the MA in Writing at Sheffield Hallam University and finished The House Fell on Her Head. Since then, Kate has written numerous short stories, a play, and the second novel, and is currently working on a new book.

Kate now lives in the Lincolnshire Wolds works s an independent consultant in safeguarding - and writes.

email: kate.mitchell@zoho.eu

Kate walking in Madeira, the location that inspired Nun’s Valley, one of the short stories to be published by Cinnamon Press.

When a robbery turns into a kidnapping, the lives of those involved are changed forever.

Conor and Dean are on the run with four-year-old Rosie. When they turn on one another, Conor takes drastic action to protect Rosie. He decides to keep her with him rather than to leave her behind and risk getting caught. His only option is to return to his childhood home in Ireland, passing her off as his daughter. Sylvia, who witnessed the robbery, has her own secrets to hide. She becomes obsessed with Rosie and will stop at nothing to find the child…

Years later, Rosie starts to uncover the lies, but nothing is as it seems. Is Sylvia prepared for what she will discover?

And will she protect Rosie or reveal the truth?

Packed with twists and turns which will keep you guessing until the very end,

The House Fell on Her Head was Kate’s first novel: a time-slip set in Sheffield in the present day and during World War 2. It tells of the discovery of human remains in the buried ruins of an Anderson Shelter. In Australia, an elderly Frank hears of the discovery and travels to England to uncover secrets and lies that have remained buried for a lifetime. As he journeys across the globe, Frank narrates his story, which starts as a boy of ten in 1939, enjoying the excitement of war until it changes his life forever. Meantime, in Sheffield, Alice describes the police investigation and her own search for the truth. Nothing is as it seems, and no one is who they appear to be.

Kate decided to self-publish after several agents told her this kind of story was not selling at the present time. When a writer friend died suddenly, Kate decided life was too short, and she self-published in early 2016. In June, ‘The House Fell on Her Head’ was a Kindle #1 bestseller.

Short stories

Kate has written numerous short stories inspired by her travels to locations worldwide, and a career in criminal justice which have been classified as literary noir, and include:

Eclipsed, a winner in the Cinnamon short story competition and published in the winners’ anthology.
Joyriding won the Mslexia showcase, and is published in the collection, Martini Girl and other stories.
A set of four short stories was published by Cinnamon Press in its showcase anthology in 2018.
Double Jeopardy, one of the short stories in the Cinnamon collection, was performed as a stage play by the Louth Creative Writing Group in 2018/19.
Several further stories are available to download from www.cutalongstory.com