The Importance of Representation

“I’m the local single mother who’s had more girlfriends than boyfriends and don’t forget: I’m the only face in this pub right now that ain’t white.”– Laura Clarke Walker, Coldharbour: A Gothic Tale of Love and Death

Sharing lived experiences

I’m known as a bit of a ‘box ticker’. I’m a Queer person of colour with various neurodivergences and disabilities going on. I’m proud of this now but it was confusing as a teenager: I’m not white, but I’m not Black. Or am I both? I’m Jewish, but culturally, not religiously. Oh, that’s because half the family’s Catholic, but they’re not. I don’t ‘just’ like men or women and actually I don’t feel completely like a woman either (note: I grew up in the Noughties when the binary was still very much a thing). Most of my neurodivergences or disabilities are not immediately visible, and actually a couple of them come and go, which makes accurate testing difficult.

As that teenager, I really could’ve done with a bit of representation. I wouldn’t have asked to see someone who ticked all the same boxes I did, but as I’ve written before, it was often a quest to find Black voices in the media or Queer writers who weren’t just Russell T Davies (though Queer as Folk blew my seventeen-year-old mind).

Now, things are a lot better, but for the first fifteen years I was writing Coldharbour, most of the characters were very white and straight and ‘normal’. And that just wasn’t writing what I know. It just wasn’t authentically me. Now, there are whole other arguments to have about who can write what stories or who can play what roles, but I knew that I had to write something that at least partially reflected my own lived experience, seeing as Coldharbour is such a personal (if completely fictional) story.

And maybe there’s a reader out there who’ll appreciate that, so for now, I’m going to give a relatively spoiler-free outline of some of the representation to be found in Coldharbour.

Race and Heritage

The Wilde twins are half-Trinidadian, half-Irish-Jewish. Their mixed heritage is occasionally touched on, especially in terms of the members of the family who are more white-passing. Their feelings around being mixed-race and Jewish by blood are complicated by their family history; moreover, one twin feels significantly more connected to their heritage than the other, which is explored in greater detail in later books.

Gender and Sexuality

I joke that no-one is straight in Coldharbour, but it’s almost true. Between the three main characters, we have a bisexual woman, a lesbian, and a biromantic asexual who, by today’s standards, would identify as non-binary. Other characters show a certain open-mindedness towards sexuality and gender expression which might not be totally in keeping with late Nineties/early Noughties Essex, but there are also ghosts and witches and vampires, so, you know. Perspective.

Neurodivergence and Physical Difference

There’s a hereditary speech impediment combined with autism for one Wilde twin, while the other has very explicit battles with their mental health. There’s past (off-screen) drug abuse, self-harm, and suicide attempts between them. The other main character is very visibly scarred and has struggled with PTSD. In terms of the scars, they are a significant plot point, but I also wanted to make my own small contribution to destigmatising scarring/facial differences, especially when it comes to ‘villain’ or ‘victim’ connotations. The character concerned is cold but also compassionate, confident in her abilities but self-conscious as a person, secretive but protective – oh, and she’s the love interest who the protagonist absolutely has the hots for.

Found Family

This is rooted less so in my own personal experience, but I love found family stories. There’s something about loving people for who they are and what they bring to your life rather than any biological obligation that just warms my cold, dark heart.

And despite all their faults (because they are deeply dysfunctional), the Wildes are a patchwork family full of acceptance and affection and appreciation for each other.

They just have to survive the Shadow first…

Pre-order Coldharbour: A Gothic Tale of Love and Death (out 31st January 2026)