Joanna Toye
Agent: Broo Doherty
When Jo visited a small exhibition about a former Wolverhampton department store, she had no idea that it might one day be the inspiration for a novel – or six!
She had a 30-year career writing for soaps like Crossroads and Eastenders, including twenty years producing and scriptwriting for radio 4's The Archers. But making the change from the countryside to an urban setting, she created the 'Shop Girls/VictoryGirls' novel series, set in a fictional Midland department store in World War Two and published by Harper Collins.
Jo's latest book is the second in the Little Penguin Bookshop series, A New Chapter at The Little Penguin Bookshop, which will be published in January 2025 by Century.
A warm sense of community, the precious nature of female friendship, hope despite the hardships on the Home Front and, of course, romance with all its ups and downs, are the keynotes to her books.
After years describing herself as a 'pavement person' Jo is astonished to find herself living in the countryside, and loving it.
