Anna Downes
Anna Downes is an actor-turned-author who grew up in Sheffield, UK and now lives on the NSW Central Coast with her family. She studied Drama at the University of Manchester before spending three years at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. Her internationally bestselling debut novel, The Safe Place, was published simultaneously in Australia, the US and the UK in 2020 and was shortlisted for the 2021 Sisters in Crime Davitt Awards. Her second book, The Shadow House, was published in 2021 in Australia and New Zealand followed by publication in the UK and the USA in 2022. Both have been translated into over ten different languages. Red River Road, published in May of 2024, was an instant bestseller upon release, reaching number five on the national Top Ten and spending six weeks as the number one Australian fiction title. She has a brand new audio original thriller, Break Me Down, coming out with Penguin Australia and Macmillan Audio in 2025.