Sarah Haywood

Susan Green, the forty five year old narrator of The Cactus, keeps her life as tidy as the succulents on her windowsill until her mother's death and an unplanned pregnancy arrive in the same season. Haywood's first novel, published in 2018, was chosen by Reese Witherspoon's Hello Sunshine book club and by Richard and Judy, and reached the shortlist for the Authors' Club Best First Novel Award. She read law at Kent, practised as a solicitor in London and Liverpool, investigated complaints against lawyers for the Legal Services Ombudsman, then took an MA in creative writing at Manchester Metropolitan University. Born in Birmingham, she lives in Liverpool with her husband and two sons.