About Martina Cole
Want to know about Martina Cole? We present our snapshot of Martina Cole, her background, novels and achievements.
In an easy to read, bullet point format find our guide to Martina Cole below.
Martina Cole:
- was born and brought up in Aveley, Essex
- is the youngest of five children
- comes from a large Irish Catholic family
- her mother, a psychiatric nurse, was from Dublin
- her father, a merchant seaman, was from Cork
- attended a convent school (and hated it!)
- at the age of 14 dated a bank robber
- was expelled from school at 15 for reading Harold Robbins’s The Carpetbaggers
- got married at 16
- got divorced at 17
- was pregnant at 18 with her first child, Christopher
- was a pea picker for her first job
- often had upto 3 jobs to make ends meet
- would write to entertain herself
- used to write mini books for her neighbour
- never submitted her work to publishers initially as she lacked self confidence
- married in her early twenties
- decided to try writing full-time in her thirties
- gave up her job as a secretary and decided she would “give it a year”
- sent off a manuscript, Dangerous Lady to an agent she picked from the Writers’ and Artists’ Yearbook
- had been working on the Dangerous Lady manuscript years previously
- submitted the manuscript on a Friday and had “the call” on the Monday!
- sold her first two books, via her agent Darley Anderson, for a then record £150,000
- has worked with agent Darley Anderson for 20 years
- was signed by publishers Hodder Headline, who were a new start-up at the time
- regulary sells in excess of 300,000 hardbacks on initial release of a new title
- had a bestseller hardback in 2005 with The Take
- won the Best Crime Thriller at the British Book Awards with The Take
- has had Dangerous Lady, The Jump, and The Take adapted into television dramas
- has achieved worldwide sales of over 8 million books
- has had 3 paperbacks go straight to top spot on The Sunday Times fiction bestseller list
- has presented on TV with shows such as Martina Cole’s Ladykillers
- now lives in Kent to be close to family
- has a new novel Hard Girls out on October 15th 2009
Anything to add? Post a comment, below, or start a post in the forum. We would love to hear from other Martina Cole fans out there!
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Hello,
i met Martina at her book signing in Bexleyheath Kent WHsmiths… Well, what a lady. my parent accompanied me on the day of my first book signing ever and we felt as if we had known her for years. what an inspiration. Not usually my thing but this was an experience not to be sniffed at just want to say big fan cant wait to start reading Hard Girls once iv finished The Business.
thank you Martina for your warm approach to us i am very grateful
hopefully might bash into you over Lakeside one day one of haunts
Hayleyx
Just over seven years ago I went into hospital to have a brain tumour removed. The operation was successful however whilst recuperating (a 6 month period) a close friend brought me a book to read written by Martina Cole (Faceless). To be quite honest I have never read a book all the way through and I was some what reluctant to do so. My friend said just have a read of this book and I guarantee you won’t be able to put it down! Since Faceless I have read all of Martina Coles Books and eagerly wait the new book every year. A big thankyou Martina Cole you certainly helped me through a difficult time in my life and I love your work! Mark Bichard
I’m going to keep verry simple, Martine cole you are fantastc you are the best of all, I absolute adore your work, all the best for your future.
MARTA