Hilary Spiers is a novelist, award-winning short story writer and playwright, who writes about ordinary women in sometimes extraordinary circumstances. She believes women's complex and fascinating lives deserve more scrutiny than they often get and is particularly interested in the lives of older women and historical figures.
Her play, Feeding Frenzy, was shortlisted for the Liverpool Hope Playwriting Prize in 2022.
She is the author of Hester & Harriet and Hester & Harriet: Love, Lies and Linguine, published by Allen and Unwin, featuring two feisty sisters of a certain age. She continues to write fiction, both novels and short stories, but has recently been focusing largely on her playwriting.
She directed her own play A Singular Deception at the Edinburgh Fringe in August 2024 for the Edinburgh Graduates Theatre Group (EGTG). It was shortlisted for a Scottish Theatre Award on the Fringe.
She lives in Edinburgh.
Hester and Harriet lead comfortable lives in a pretty cottage in an English village. Having opened their minds, home and hearts to Daria, a mysterious migrant, and her baby son Milo, the widowed sisters decide to further expand their own horizons by venturing forth to Italy for their annual holiday.
Back in England, Daria and Milo are celebrating – they’ve received official refugee status with papers to confirm they can make England their home. Meanwhile, nephew Ben, who knows only too well how much he owes his aunts, is hurtling towards a different sort of celebration – one he’s trying to backpedal out of as fast as he possibly can.
With a huge secret hanging between the sisters, an unlikely new love on the landscape for Hester and new beginnings also beckoning for Harriet, Italy provides more opportunities for adventure than either of them could ever have imagined. But which ones will Hester and Harriet choose?
As Hester and Harriet throw all their cards on the table in Italy, and potential catastrophe threatens Ben in England, it’s anyone’s guess how chaos will be kept at bay.
Hester and Harriet, two widowed sisters who share a home, like their routine. But when they take in first a young girl and her tiny baby they find hiding in a bus shelter and then their truculent teenage nephew, their orderly lives are turned upside down. Seven days of mystery, mayhem and danger ensue - and nothing will never be the same again.
"… the most TV-begging characters ever." Womans Weekly
"Think Heston Blumenthal with a blowtorch." Womans Weekly
"May well be my favourite characters of the year." Newtown Review of Books
"The gentle humour and relaxed pace make this an enjoyable read." The Daily Mail
"This is a lovely book peopled with delightful characters." Amazon Top 100 reviewer
"I whizzed through this as once I had started it was quite difficult to put this down with its comedy drama tale." Amazon Hall of Fame Top 50 Reviewer
"Rarely in literature are older women ... presented with such verve and energy. Harriet and Hester are unforgettable characters." Brisbane News
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Hilary worked once again with Birmingham based theatre company Tea & Tenacity on a play about the astonishing Dr James Barry, for forty six years in the nineteenth century a doctor in the British Army – and discovered on his death to be a woman.
For more information visit: teaandtenacity.co.uk
A break in rehearsals for A Singular Deception during its development in Birmingham. L to R: Ali Belbin (director), Hilary Spiers (writer), Ryan Hamilton (actor) and Caroline Frewin (actor).
Hilary was commissioned by Stamford Arts Centre to produce a piece of promenade, immersive theatre for the Stamford Georgian Festival in September 2019. The ten performances of Mrs Siddons’ Dressing Room were sold out and ushers had to dissuade bystanders from tagging along with the cast and audience as they moved from the Theatre to a beautiful townhouse as part of the action!
Hilary was recently featured in Britain’s oldest newspaper, the Stamford Mercury, in advance of the launch of her latest book, Hester & Harriet: Love, Lies & Linguine.
Read the article hereFirst Do No Harm, Hilary's play (short-listed for the Ronald Duncan Award) based on real events in the Fens at the start of the welfare state immediately prior to WW1, toured the East and West Midlands in September/October 2014, having opened at BirminghamFest in July 2014. It was produced by Tea and Tenacity Theatre Company. Click here or click here for reviews.
Her plays Hoovering on the Edge, Pecking Order and Painting from Memory are now available from the National Operatic and Drama Association who also handle the performance rights.
Learn MorePerformed in the UK and Australia, Hoovering on the Edge charts the unlikely friendships that develop between seven very different women , tutored by one hapless male - on a summer writing holiday. Sun, sangria and storytelling , what could possibly go wrong...! Meet Moira the tactless hypochondriac, Clare the dippy yoga teacher, and feisty Rita, to name but a few, as the women embark on a voyage of discovery about themselves, their hopes and their dreams - and uncover some surprising home truths. Click here for reviews.
Learn MoreHester & Harriet is masterfully comedic and will go down as containing the funniest game of bridge I have ever encountered and most likely will ever encounter ... what I want now, and I hope someone is paying attention here, is to see a TV series – Hester and Harriet: Accidental Detectives. Like Miss Marple but with two of them. I can't wait.
Jamie Ashbird Melbourne Review of Books
The gentle humour and relaxed pace make this an enjoyable read.
Fanny Blake Daily Mail
This is a lovely book peopled with delightful characters.
Julia Flyte Amazon Top 100 reviewer
I whizzed through this as once I had started it was quite difficult to put this down with its comedy drama tale.
M Dowden Amazon Hall of Fame Top 50 Reviewer