We caught up with Kate High, author of Small Acts of Deceit and graduate of Faber Academy’s Writing a Novel course, to talk about her journey from jewellery maker to novelist, the inspiration behind her gripping on-the-road thriller and how Faber Academy helped her find her voice and confidence as a writer.

You previously studied on our flagship Writing a Novel course. How valuable was the course to the writing of your novel?

Although I was ambitious to write from an early age, my life took a different course. I became a designer and maker of jewellery, silversmithing and enamelling, and a part-time teacher for colleges and Nottingham University.

In my sixties, due to arthritis in my wrists and hands, I couldn’t continue working with metals. I decided to attempt to become an author.

The course I took with the Faber Academy was pivotal in my decision. I learned the basics about constructing a novel’s framework, finding my voice as an author and holding the reader’s attention when telling a story.

I lacked confidence in my ability to become a writer. Taking part in the course made me believe in myself. I came out to friends and family, talking for the first time about my long-held ambition. I also allowed myself permission to think that I could become a published author.

Did you make writing friends during your Faber Academy course? How important has peer feedback been to your process?

One of the joys of the Faber course was working with other like-minded students. Before the course, I had written only for pleasure and rarely showed my work to others. I was initially shy about sharing my writing and critiquing the work of my peers. After a couple of sessions, it became more natural. The group were highly supportive of one another.

I understood the importance of honesty in giving a truthful assessment. Comment on the strengths and weaknesses, and finish a critique with the positives.

I got on well with all my peer group, especially with two other students I met when they visited the UK.

In Small Acts of Deceit, your central character Mauve ‘must face her darkest truths’, ‘as trust fractures and secrets surface.’ Could you tell us a little bit more about the novel? What gave you the inspiration for it?

I have always loved on-the-road books and movies, including Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn, Jack Kerouac’s On the Road, Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl, and the film Little Miss Sunshine.

My fifth novel, Small Acts of Deceit, is an on-the-road novel. The story opens in London before moving to Norfolk, Lincoln, Sleaford, Blackpool, and finally, Cumbria.

The novel’s inspiration came from examining complex or damaged familial relationships. Mauve Gilcrest believed she was an only child until Bonnie Kelly dumped her daughter, Lena, onto Mauve’s father, tycoon Henry Gilcrest. Half-sisters Mauve and Lena were both aged thirteen. Lena then lived with the family for five years until her unruly behaviour made Henry’s wife, Celia, insist she be returned to her mother. As an adult, Lena, always jealous of Mauve, became her nemesis.

After receiving a call from her estranged half-sister, Mauve’s life unravels. Mauve finds Lena’s flat covered in blood but no body, and a doll linked to the past murder, eight years prior – of Paulette Franklin.

After the police find Mauve’s DNA on the doll, they seek to arrest her for two murders, Paulette Franklin and Lena Kelly; Mauve goes on the run. She does not welcome her son, Kit, home on summer break from university, joining her. Their relationship is complex and often fractious – but Kit will not abandon her. Later, he invites his cousin Eliza, Lena’s daughter, to join them. Mauve fears that Eliza is working with her uncle, Lena’s brother, to frame her for the murders.

An essential aspect of storytelling – something learned from the Faber course – is the novel’s movement, with tension building at the end of each chapter of Small Acts of Deceit.

Can you share your journey to getting published?

After writing the first 15,000, I finished the Faber course and went on to complete the book.

When sending the manuscript to agents, I mentioned in my letter of introduction that I had already started on the next novel. The manuscript was rejected. However, two agents liked my writing style and advised that, when ready, I send the first three chapters of the next novel. I was offered a contract on the strength of the first three chapters of The Cat and The Corpse in The Old Barn. The agent gained a book contract with Constable. The first novel was followed by three more: The Man Who Vanished and The Dog Who Waited, The Missing Wife and The Stone Fen Siamese and Murder and The Moggies of Magpie Row.

All books came out in hardback, followed a year later by paperback.

There are positives and negatives in having books released first in hardback. On the positive side, it is a demonstration of faith by the publisher exhibiting belief the novel will sell well. Constable/Little Brown has a history of putting books out this way. On the negative side, hardbacks were once referred to by publishers as the ‘library copy.’ With the squeeze on the public purse and the closure of libraries, the hardback is no longer guaranteed a place in a library. Sales of hardbacks are generally good for well-known, established authors. Not so for unknown authors. Publishers must recoup their investment and make a profit. The publishers are inclined to go with an author for four books – if the sales are insufficient, they do not offer a contract for further books. I was not offered a contract after my fourth book.

For my fifth novel, Small Acts of Deceit, I had to return to the beginning and start again. Deciding not to try to find another agent, I researched publishers who accepted manuscripts directly from an author. I made a list of nine and contacted my top five. Two rejected the novel – one suggested I contact them again in six months when they would be accepting submissions. Of the five, two publishers, Collective Ink and The Book Guild, offered me a contract. I accepted a contract with The Book Guild.

Small Acts of Deceit comes out on 28^th May 2025.

Who are your biggest literary influences? Did any of these influence Small Acts of Deceit?

At eleven years old, I received a set of four library cards. It was then I discovered books by Agatha Christie. Although they were in the library’s adult section, the librarian never queried my borrowing the books. I loved everything: her writing style, plot twists and red herrings. I have become the author of five published crime novels, which suggests her work has greatly influenced me.

Apart from Agatha Christie, my top five fiction writers, past and present, are Graham Greene, Margaret Atwood, Ruth Rendell, Hanya Yanagihara, and Denise Mina. The plots are tight, and the characters created by these writers are well-rounded and interesting. Be it love, hate, or something in between, the reader is drawn in and wants to know what will happen to the characters as they progress through the novel.

Could you tell us about your writing routine, and how you balance writing with other aspects of your life?

After breakfast, my day starts with dog walking.

Dog walking is time for thinking and plotting. While walking, I review the plot of the book in progress. Returning home, I’ve reached a view on how to develop and move the story forward. I generally start writing at around 11 am. I take the laptop into the conservatory, which overlooks the garden. I aim to write a minimum of 2,000 words per day. If the day goes well, it could be double that figure.

I break for lunch and continue in the afternoon. I finish at 5 pm when it is time for a second dog walk.

Do you have any advice for aspiring authors?

• Join a book group. You will read and debate books in genres you might have missed or avoided. Get out of your comfort zone and read everything.
• If you cannot afford a professional edit on your completed manuscript, ask a trusted friend or family member with good grammar and punctuation skills to check it.
• Be prepared to accept rejection. It might come from agents or publishers, or if you succeed in publishing a book, reviews are not always favourable.
• It’s important to remember that while they only accept a small number of new writers, agents and publishing houses receive thousands of submissions yearly. There may be many reasons for the rejection, but primarily, it will be that they do not feel a book will make sufficient money. The rejection is business – it is not personal.

What do you do when you’re not writing?

I enjoy reading, yoga and gardening when I am not writing. I taught mature students part-time for over thirty years, and many of those students remained friends. Enamelling is easy on the hands and wrists, so I have regular enamelling sessions with friends.

How do you handle writer’s block?

When I cannot move on with a chapter because my thoughts are blocked, I leave it and work on something else. I return to it later with a clear mind.

What’s next for your writing?

I am working on my next novel, another thriller, hopefully to be published in 2026.

Writing a Novel is designed to support aspiring fiction writers to develop their craft over six months, with courses in London (at Faber’s HQ in Hatton Garden), Newcastle and online.

A six-month programme of seminars, sessions will cover all the essentials of novel writing – including character, story, structure, plotting, voice, dialogue, conflict and more.

Find out more about the next iterations of Writing a Novel.