Joanna Quinn was born in London and grew up in Dorset, in the southwest of England, where her debut novel,
The Whalebone Theatre, is set.
She has worked in journalism and the charity sector. She is also a short story writer, published by
The White Review and Comma Press, among others.
Quinn lives in a village near the sea in Dorset.
At CrimeReads she tagged six of the best books set in and around the theatrical world, including:
Ballet Shoes, by Noel Streatfeild
The urtext for me, as far as books about theatre are concerned. Streatfeild’s tale of three orphan girls who go to stage school, 
with a household of interesting lodgers and warm-hearted guardians cheering them on, is a children’s classic for good reason. But Streatfeild doesn’t shy away from depicting the bleakness of children from cash-strapped families having to audition to help pay the bills. Nor does she allow her characters to become starry-eyed. The eldest Pauline becomes unbearable when she gets a main part – and is quickly demoted (‘nobody is irreplaceable’, the director tells her). But despite its harsh lessons, the stage offers the determined sisters their best chance to make both their fortune and their name.
Read about
the other entries on the list.
--Marshal Zeringue
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