Lucy Ribchester is a novelist and short story writer based in Edinburgh. Her first novel, The Hourglass Factory, was a thriller set during the suffragette movement, and was longlisted for the Historical Writers Association Debut Crown and selected by Waterstones’ Edinburgh branches as their Book of the Year. Her second novel, The Amber Shadows mixed tropes of 1940s detective fiction with the lives of women working at Bletchley Park. In 2024 her third historical novel, Murder Ballad, was published, set in 18th century Edinburgh’s music scene. She is currently working on her fourth historical novel, which takes place in 14th century Scotland.

Lucy has received a Scottish Book Trust New Writers award and a Robert Louis Stevenson Fellowship. Her short stories have been shortlisted for the Costa Short Story Award and the Manchester Fiction Prize. She is currently a Royal Literary Fund Fellow at the University of Edinburgh. She also covers dance, books and children’s events for Scotland’s The List magazine, and writes contemporary thrillers under the name Elle Connel.