Susie Boyt

Susie Boyt
Born	1969
Occupation	Journalist, novelist

Susie Boyt FRSL (born January 1969) is a British novelist and journalist. She has published seven novels, and a memoir about her obsession with Judy Garland. Boyt was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2022.

Life

Boyt is the youngest of five daughters of Suzy Boyt and artist Lucian Freud, and great-granddaughter of Sigmund Freud.[1] Boyt was educated at Channing and at Camden School for Girls and read English at St Catherine's College, Oxford, graduating in 1992.[1] As a student her boyfriend died in a climbing accident. She later trained as a bereavement counsellor, and bereavement features as a theme in her novels.[2][1]

Working variously at a PR agency, and a literary agency, she completed her first novel, The Normal Man, which was published in 1995 by Weidenfeld & Nicolson. She returned to university to do a Masters in Anglo American Literary Relations at University College London, studying the works of Henry James and the poet John Berryman.[1]

As of January 2025^[update], Boyt has published seven novels, the most recent being Loved and Missed (2021). In 2008, she published My Judy Garland Life, a layering of biography, hero-worship and self-help. The book was serialised on Radio 4, shortlisted for the PEN Ackerley prize and adapted as a musical by Amanda Whittington.[3][4] In 2018 she edited The Turn of the Screw and Other Ghost Stories for Penguin.[5]

Boyt's journalism includes a column in the weekend Life & Arts section of the Financial Times.[6] She is married to Tom Astor, a film producer. They live with their two daughters in London.[1] Boyt is a director at the Hampstead Theatre.[7]

Boyt was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2022.[8]

Novels

• The Normal Man, 1995
• The Characters of Love, 1996
• The Last Hope of Girls, 2001
• Only Human, 2004
• The Small Hours, 2012[9]
• Love & Fame, 2017[10]
• Loved and Missed, 2021

Non-fiction

• My Judy Garland Life, 2008

Awards and nominations

• The Last Hope of Girls was shortlisted for the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize[1]
• Only Human was shortlisted for the Mind Book of the Year Award
• My Judy Garland Life was shortlisted for the PEN Ackerley Prize[7]

See also

• Freud family

References

1. Hickman, Christie (9 July 2004). "Susie Boyt: Reasons to be cheerful". The Independent. Archived from the original on 7 July 2022. Retrieved 1 January 2025.
2. "Meet the Freuds by Sebastian Shakespeare and Olivia Cole". Evening Standard. 17 April 2009. Retrieved 9 April 2022.
3. "Writer: Susie Boyt - Writers • Auckland Writers Festival". www.writersfestival.co.nz. Retrieved 1 January 2025.
4. Hickling, Alfred (7 February 2014). "Amanda Whittington: 'I doubt I'll ever be considered fashionable'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 1 January 2025.
5. "The Turn of the Screw and Other Ghost Stories by Henry James". www.penguin.co.nz. Retrieved 1 January 2025.
6. "Susie Boyt | The Guardian". www.theguardian.com. Retrieved 1 January 2025.
7. "Boyt, Susie - Royal Society of Literature". 1 September 2023. Retrieved 1 January 2025.
8. Shaffi, Sarah; Knight, Lucy (12 July 2022). "Adjoa Andoh, Russell T Davies and Michaela Coel elected to Royal Society of Literature". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 23 June 2023.
9. "Susie Boyt: Scourge of the yummy mummy". The Independent. 4 November 2012. Archived from the original on 25 May 2022. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
10. "Love & Fame by Susie Boyt – going through the emotions". The Guardian. 31 December 2017. Retrieved 10 September 2020.