Julia Jones (writer)

This article is about the book publisher and writer. For other persons named Julia Jones, see Julia Jones (disambiguation).

Julia Jones
Julia Jones in 2009
Born	1954 Woodbridge, Suffolk, England
Occupation(s)	editor, publisher, writer, classic yacht owner
Years active	1986–present
Spouse(s)	Chris Thorogood (divorced), Francis Wheen (m. 2019)
Website	golden-duck.co.uk/julia-jones

Julia Jones, formerly also known as Julia Thorogood, is an English writer, editor, book publisher, aged-care advocate and classic yacht owner.

Early life

Julia Jones was born in Woodbridge, Suffolk in 1954. When she was 3 years old, her father George Jones bought the wooden sailing ketch Peter Duck, a yacht originally commissioned and owned by children's novelist Arthur Ransome and named for a character in one of his novels. This nautical connection with Ransome, along with numerous pony books, helped to shape a lifelong enthusiasm for books.

Writer and publisher

Jones opened a bookshop in Ingatestone, Essex, which she then developed into a small-scale local publishing business, reissuing a Second World War autobiography by crime writer Margery Allingham. Jones's interest in the Allingham family grew; she researched Margery Allingham's life and wrote a biography published in 1991. Jones has also studied the fiction writing of Margery Allingham's father, Herbert Allingham.

In 2006, while working on a PhD on Herbert Allingham, Jones decided to become a writer of adventure stories like the Swallows and Amazons series of Arthur Ransome she had read as a child. The Salt-Stained Book, the first part of a planned sailing adventure trilogy, was released in June 2011. Jones hoped the trilogy would inspire a new generation of children to mess about in boats.

Aged-care advocacy

In November 2014, Jones and co-founder Nicci Gerrard set up an aged-care advocacy group, John's Campaign, to promote extended visiting rights for family carers of patients with dementia in hospitals in the United Kingdom.

Personal life

Jones has five children. After living with him for 27 years, in October 2019 she married Francis Wheen, a writer, journalist and broadcaster who is deputy editor of Private Eye.

Bibliography

Books by Julia Jones:

• (edited/published) The Cruise of Naromis: August in the Baltic 1939 by G. A. Jones ISBN 978-1899262335 January 5, 2017
• Margery Allingham & Julia Jones Beloved Old Age and What To Do About It: Margery Allingham's 'The Relay' handed on to Julia Jones ISBN 978-1899262298, June 30, 2016
• Fifty Years in the Fiction Factory: The working life of Herbert Allingham ISBN 978-1899262076 September 19, 2012
• Strong Winds series:
  • The Salt-Stained Book (Strong Winds vol. 1) ISBN 978-1899262045 June 16, 2011
  • A Ravelled Flag (Strong Winds vol. 2) ISBN 978-1899262052 November 1, 2011
  • Ghosting Home (Strong Winds vol. 3) ISBN 978-1899262069 July 2, 2012
  • The Lion of Sole Bay (Strong Winds vol. 4) ISBN 978-1899262182 October 7, 2013
  • Black Waters (Strong Winds vol. 5) ISBN 978-1899262267 July 2, 2015
  • Pebble (Strong Winds vol. 6) ISBN 978-1899262397 November 15, 2018
• (edited/published) Cheapjack. Being the True History of a Young Man's Adventures as a Fortune Teller, Grafter, Knocker-Worker, and Mounted Pitcher on the Market-Places and Fair-grounds of a Modern But Still Romantic England by Philip Allingham, ISBN 978-1899262021 republished July 1, 2010
• The Adventures of Margery Allingham ISBN 978-1899262014 March 2, 2009
• (writing as Julia Thorogood) Margery Allingham: A Biography, ISBN 978-0434779062 October 14, 1991
• (published) The Oaken Heart: The Story of an English Village at War, by Margery Allingham, ISBN 978-1899262038 re-issued 1988 and March 3, 2011
• (edited/published, as Julia Thorogood) Yesterday's Heroes, by June Jones, January 1, 1986

External links

• Author's website