After a career in radio and TV, producing and writing for programmes ranging from The Archers to EastEnders, Joanna turned to historical novels to create her very own fictional world. Her bestselling Shop Girls and Victory Girls series, following three shop girls in a department store in World War Two, their families and friends, have been called 'a cross between Mr Selfridge and Call the Midwife for their warm sense of family and community in an authentic period setting. The Little Penguin Bookshop is the first novel in a brand new series.

Formerly a confirmed city girl, Joanna has recently relocated to the Somerset countryside to be closer to her daughter and small granddaughters, and is loving every minute of her new life.