Sarah Kate Lynch
Sarah-Kate Lynch is a novelist and editor, and has worked as a journalist, radio presenter, and columnist. Her work is popular in New Zealand and abroad due, in part, to what Margie Thomson describes as her ‘distinctive voice at the quality end of the popular-fiction genre.’ She has published several best-selling books, including Finding Tom Connor (2000), On Top Of Everything (2008) and Screw You Dolores (2014).
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Lynch, Sarah-Kate (1962- ) is a novelist, a journalist, a columnist and an editor.
Lynch was born and raised in Clyde. She moved to Wellington and completed a Diploma of Journalism. Lynch’s successful career in journalism has included work for newspapers, magazines and on radio. At various times in her career she has worked as a journalist, editor, radio presenter and columnist. She is currently a full-time fiction writer.
In 1994 she became the youngest editor of New Zealand Woman’s Weekly.
Lynch’s first book was Stuff It! A Wicked Approach to Dieting (HarperCollins1997). It was, as Lynch herself puts it , ‘inspired by reading Ellen Degeneres and Fran Drescher's half nonsensical memoirs, for want of a better word, but it concentrated on my personal struggle with always being on a diet but never getting thin’.
Lynch began writing the column ‘The Modern Girls Guide to Life’ for New Zealand Woman’s Weekly in 1999. She continued to write the column for several years, and in 2002 a collection of those columns was published in a book by Random House New Zealand.
Her second novel Finding Tom Connor was released in 2000 (Black Swan NZ).
Blessed Are the Cheesemakers (Black Swan NZ 2002) is set in Ireland on a farm where the tastiest cheese in the world is made. The book sold around the world and the production rights were quickly snapped up by Working Title.
By Bread Alone (Black Swan NZ 2003) is her fourth novel. Margie Thomson said in her review, ‘Lynch handles her plot with aplomb, keeping the tension building rather than dissolving once the secrets emerge… Clever, moreish, light yet strangely satisfying.’ (New Zealand Herald, Nov 2013)
Lynch is a successful fiction writer; her work sells well both here in New Zealand and abroad. Her success is due, in part, to what Margie Thomson in the New Zealand Herald describes as her ‘distinctive voice at the quality end of the popular-fiction genre. Her plots buzz along (both her previous novels have been optioned by film companies), her characters spring recognisably to life, she's extremely lively and funny (albeit a little glib and overstated at times) especially when she's skewering the world of social flim-flam, but with a feel for language that results in some lovely imagery and, in this latest novel [By Bread Alone], genuine poignancy.’
Eating With the Angels ( Black Swan NZ 2004) follows restaurant critic Connie Farrell through Venice and heartbreak. Michele Hewitson reviewed the book saying ‘Lynch has a nice and easy style; is funny without being show-offy and her characters are believable. Eating with Angels follows that formula.’ (New Zealand Herald, Nov 2004)
Lynch’s next book was House of Peine, (also sold as House of Daughters in the US and House of Joy in the UK) . A review in the Dominion Post called the book ‘Impeccably researched, it reads like a dream.’
In 2008 Lynch published On Top of Everything (Black Swan). In an interview with the Otago Daily Times she talked about her inspiration for the book ‘"I like to write the way I like to go through a normal day. There will be a few laughs and a few things that stop you and make you feel a bit sad or make you think, then more laughs.’
Her seventh novel Dolci Di Love (HarperCollins 2011) is a story about a secret league of Italian widows dedicated to healing broken hearts and smoothing the path of true love. In a review for the New Zealand Herald Nicky Pellegrino wrote ‘from the first page, where Lily finds a laminated photograph of her husband with his mistress and two children under the insole of his left golf shoe, I'd forgotten about Sarah-Kate entirely and was hooked into her bittersweet tale.’
The Wedding Bees was published in 2013 by HarperCollins. Nicky Pellegrino reviewed the novel for the New Zealand Herald and described it as ‘a sweetly old-fashioned romance with a high feel-good factor.’
2014 was a big year for Lynch as she published two books. Screw You Dolores (Random House NZ) is the first in her Wicked Approach To... series and is the follow up to Stuff it! A Wicked Approach to Dieting. Graham Beattie reviewed it on Beatties Book Blog and said ‘as Sarah-Kate explores how to make herself happy by ignoring the expectations of others, she reveals great wisdom, too. I have to confess that I burst out laughing several times while reading Screw You Dolores and smiled on frequent occasions.’ Lynch also published Heavenly Hirani’s School of Laughing Yoga (Black Swan NZ) that year. In the a review for NZ Booksellers Kelly Bold wrote ‘no matter what age you are, you’ll be captivated by the crazy, colourful, chaotic city of Mumbai brought vividly to life on the page by Sarah-Kate’s gorgeous descriptions. Like Annie (and the author), I have never had any desire to visit India but all that changed reading this novel’.
Updated: December 2016
