Jenny Quintana is a British mystery author, best known for her debut novel "The Missing Girl." Quintana was born and raised in Berkshire and Essex, where she developed a love for literature at an early age. She studied English Literature at Queen Mary in London and later earned a PGCE from Goldsmiths. Before becoming a professional author, Quintana worked as a teacher in East London, as well as in Athens and Seville. She then turned her attention to writing course books for teaching English as a Foreign Language.
Quintana's passion for fiction writing was ignited when she began winning awards for her short fiction. She decided to pursue her dream of becoming a novelist and enrolled in a creative writing course by Curtis Brown. It was there that she began working on "The Missing Girl," which was published in 2017. The novel quickly gained attention from UK publishers, and Mantle Books, an imprint of Macmillan, bought the UK rights at auction. German and Italian rights were also sold, making "The Missing Girl" an international success.
Quintana's writing has been described as a blend of whodunnit and an account of a life interrupted. Her debut novel follows the story of Anna, whose sister Gabriella disappeared years before as a teenager. When their mother dies, Anna returns home, reigniting her questions and her quest to uncover the truth about what happened to Gabriella. Quintana's subsequent novels, "Our Dark Secret" (2020) and "The Hiding Place" (2021), have also received critical acclaim. She currently resides in Berkshire with her family and is working on her fourth novel.