About Ashley Hay
Ashley Hay’s four books of narrative non-fiction – The Secret and Gum, and Herbarium and Museum (the latter two in collaboration with photographer Robyn Stacey) – all reveal an ongoing fascination for stories about fabulous people and their obsessions.
Her essays, short stories and journalism have appeared in anthologies and magazines including Brothers and Sisters, The Monthly, The Bulletin, Best Australian Essays, Heat and When Books Die.
The Body in the Clouds, her first novel, was published by Allen & Unwin in September 2010.
Her work has been praised as “beautifully written and evocative” (Eureka Street), as “well researched and deliciously written” (Australian Book Review), and as having “a delightfully light style, sometimes reminiscent of a Wildean 1066 and All That” (Sydney Morning Herald).
“If Jane Austen were alive and working as an investigative reporter,” said The Australian, “she would write a book like The Secret.”