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Amanda Hodgkinson Biography, Books, and Similar Authors

Author Biography  | Interview  | Books by this Author  | Read-Alikes

Amanda Hodgkinson
Photo: Angus Muir

Amanda Hodgkinson

How to pronounce Amanda Hodgkinson: HAHJ-kin-son (like hodge-podge)

Amanda Hodgkinson Biography

Hodgkinson has an MA in Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia. After the MA, she and her husband, with our two young daughters, upped sticks and bought a property in south west France. The first few years were tough, because of the settling in, and she couldn't find time to write.

But finally 22 Britannia Road, her debut novel was completed and became an international bestseller. Her new book Spilt Milk published in February 2014 (Penguin Books) and a novella Tin Town (Grand Central Penguin US) will be published in summer 2016.

Amanda Hodgkinson's website

This bio was last updated on 10/23/2016. In a perfect world, we would like to keep all of BookBrowse's biographies up to date, but with many thousands of lives to keep track of it's simply impossible to do. So, if the date of this bio is not recent, you may wish to do an internet search for a more current source, such as the author's website or social media presence. If you are the author or publisher and would like us to update this biography, send the complete text and we will replace the old with the new.

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Interview

Amanda Hodgkinson discusses her first book, 22 Britannia Road.

What drew you to this particular story of Polish World War II survivors living in England?

As a child, I was always fascinated when the adults around me talked about World War II. These were older family members who had lived through it, and I would try to stay quiet so I could listen without being discovered. Their voices changed to lower registers, there were weighted silences in the conversations, sad looks, secretive whispering, and then somebody would notice me and send me out to play, their voice swinging up a register to convey a gaiety they probably didn't feel.

The stories were about families and relationships. Mostly they were about the difficulties of people coming back together in peacetime. Of damaged men coming home from war and women trying to pick up the pieces. Of families broken by separations and children born out of wedlock. Of British GI brides waving good-bye to their families, joining American husbands, and of European immigrants, pale and gaunt, arriving on ships, hoping to begin new, safe lives in postwar Britain. I would go to bed at night, sick at heart thinking about these stories, and wonder how the world ever managed to get back to normal after that war.

Looking back, I think I never stopped ...

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Books by this Author

Books by Amanda Hodgkinson at BookBrowse
22 Britannia Road jacket
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Read-Alikes

All the books below are recommended as read-alikes for Amanda Hodgkinson but some maybe more relevant to you than others depending on which books by the author you have read and enjoyed. So look for the suggested read-alikes by title linked on the right.
How we choose read-alikes

  • Diane Ackerman

    Diane Ackerman

    Poet, essayist, and naturalist, Diane Ackerman is the author of many highly acclaimed works of nonfiction, including A Natural History of the Senses -- a book beloved by readers all over the world and the volumes Deep Play, A... (more)

    If you enjoyed:
    22 Britannia Road

    Try:
    The Zookeeper's Wife
    by Diane Ackerman

  • Jo Baker

    Jo Baker

    Jo Baker was born in Lancashire and educated in Oxford and Belfast. The Undertow is her first publication in the United States. She is the author of three previous novels published in the United Kingdom: Offcomer, The Mermaid... (more)

    If you enjoyed:
    22 Britannia Road

    Try:
    The Undertow
    by Jo Baker

We recommend 8 similar authors

View all 8 Read-Alikes

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  • Reviews
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Top Picks

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In Our Midst
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In Our Midst follows a German immigrant family’s fight for freedom after their internment post–Pearl Harbor.
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