Tracy Darnton

Tracy Darnton is a writer for children and young adults.

My Sister is a Treasure is a humorous take on what happens when a new baby joins the family, featuring the same family from her previous picture book - My Brother is an Avocado. My Brother is an Avocado is a picture book with Simon & Schuster with a playful twist on the excitement and anxieties for siblings when a new baby is on the way. It's a departure from her usual dark YA thrillers - but all her books have twisty endings! Tracy was inspired by the Japanese publication of My Brother is an Avocado to start learning Japanese so that she could read the book aloud, and now studies Japanese as much as she can.

In her latest YA thriller, Ready or Not, a girl goes missing during a late-night game of hide-and-seek. Three families have holidayed together at Creek House since forever but lately friendships have been under strain. The remaining teens head back to Creek House, one year later, and secrets begin to be revealed. Is everyone playing games? It's a coming of age story about privilege, obsession and friendship.

The Rules is about a girl on the run from her prepper dad and his extreme rules. It delves into the world of preppers preparing for disaster and was longlisted for the UKLA Book Award 2022.

Her first novel - The Truth About Lies - was shortlisted for the Waterstone's Children's Book Prize 2019 and was a World Book Night 2020 title. She has a special interest in the nature of memory and mnemonic techniques and so it was inevitable that her first novel would be a memory thriller. She chose Dartmoor - one of her favourite places in the UK - as its setting.

The Truth About Lies was reprinted with a new cover in 2023.

She won the Stripes/The Bookseller YA Short Story Prize in 2016. Her short story The Letter was published in I'll Be Home for Christmas and is now the basis of the novel The Rules.

She lives near Bath in the South West of England where she buys far too many books.