Melanie Golding

Dr Melanie Golding is the author of three published novels: Little Darlings (2019), The Replacement (titled The Hidden in the US) (2021) and The Sight (2023).

Little Darlings (HQ/HarperCollins UK & Canada, Crooked Lane Books US, 2019) received national acclaim, was optioned for film, and translated into twelve languages. It won the DragonCon Award for Best Horror Novel and was favourably reviewed in The New York Times and The Guardian. Her second novel The Hidden (2021) was a Barnes and Noble book of the month.

Alongside writing, Golding works as a freelance mentor for emerging fiction writers, and offers full manuscript assessment as well as publication coaching. Also currently employed by Bath Spa University as an Associate Lecturer supervising students on the MA in Creative Writing, she has an interest in Fiction Writing, Folklore & Myth, Supernatural Crime Fiction, Genre Fiction, Literary Fiction, Short Fiction, Autofiction and Nature Writing.

As a published novelist and experienced creative writing lecturer with a PhD in Creative Writing, she brings a robust combination of academic knowledge, teaching experience, and professional writing practice to her mentorship offering.

At time of writing (2025) she is working on a new novel with roots in folklore from her birth county of Leicestershire, and has just been contracted for her first ‘straight’ crime novel, which is very, very exciting.

Praise for Little Darlings

‘Atmospheric and very creepy’ The Guardian

‘Goosebump-inducing…Unforgettable’ Woman & Home

‘Unforgettable…there is something of Sylvia Plath in Lauren…One suspects that the real sorceress here is Golding, whose writing has given a voice to every wronged mother’ The New York Times

‘Chilling story…stunning’ Clare Mackintosh

Praise for The Replacement (The Hidden)

‘A modern spin on a folk tale where the improbable can happen … the twists are lovely; dark and deep’ The Times

‘Golding folds together a folklore-inspired plot with the modern twists and tension of a police procedural novel to create a bitingly unnerving story’ Adele Parks, Platinum

‘Powerful imagery and captivating characters, this a grabbing book’ Magic Radio Book Club