Bella Bathurst is a writer and photographer. Her first book, The Lighthouse Stevensons: The Extraordinary Story of the Building of the Scottish Lighthouses by the Ancestors of Robert Louis Stevenson, was shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award and won the Somerset Maugham Prize. Her novel Special was published in 2002 to wide acclaim, and her most recent book, The Wreckers, was shortlisted for the Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger Award. She has written for the Observer, Telegraph, Sunday Telegraph and Guardian, among many others.