Tina Beattie is a late-life academic who started university in 1991 at the age of 36, the year the youngest of her four children started school.  She has established an international reputation as a theologian, through her writings, media contributions and public speaking engagements, but writing fiction has been a passion since her teenage years. In 2020 she left her full-time academic post as Professor of Catholic Studies at the University of Roehampton in London, to focus on independent research and writing.

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Tina's academic writings have been published by leading publishers (including Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, and Routledge), but for her fiction she has established her own imprint—Christabel Press—to publish independently and allow for creative freedom and control over the process. Maggie Jackson's Odyssey (2026) is her third novel, coming after The Good Priest (2019) and Between Two Rivers (2022). Her novels have been widely praised: "an absolute masterpiece"—"an outstanding novel" (The Good Priest); "one of the best books I've ever read"—"a superb achievement" (Between Two Rivers)

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Tina was born to Scottish parents in Lusaka, Zambia, where she grew up. She has also lived in Zimbabwe and Kenya, and in 1988 she moved with her husband Dave and four small children to Bristol in England. She now divides her time between Camber near Rye on the south coast of England and Stirling in Scotland. She continues to work closely with African women theologians and religious sisters to promote the education, dignity, and well-being of women and girls in sub-Saharan Africa.

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An avid reader, Tina enjoys literary fiction and she is an enthusiastic fan of crime fiction, especially books by Tana French, Ruth Rendell, and Val McDermid. She loves swimming in the sea near her home in Camber, and cannot resist plunging into lochs, rivers and lakes in all seasons. 

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Find out more about Tina's writing at this link. 

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