Bethan Roberts was born in Oxford and grew up in nearby Abingdon. Her first novel The Pools won a Jerwood/Arvon Young Writers' Award. Her second novel The Good Plain Cook, published in 2008, was serialized on BBC Radio 4's Book at Bedtime and was chosen as one of Time Out's books of the year. Her third novel, My Policeman, was picked as the 'City Reads' book for Brighton. Her most recent novel is Mother Island, winner of a Jerwood/Fiction Uncovered Prize 2015. Bethan lives in Brighton with her family.