Nicci French is a pseudonym used by the English husband and wife writer team, Nicci Gerrard and Sean French. Both of them are accomplished writers of psychological thrillers, hailing from the United Kingdom. They have been writing together under the pen name Nicci French since 1995, while also pursuing individual writing careers. The couple is known for their psychological thrillers, which feature a strong, vulnerable woman as the main character. They have a unique writing process where they write separately and then re-write each other's work.
Nicci Gerrard was born in June 1958 in Worcestershire and grew up with two sisters and a brother. She has a first-class honors degree in English Literature from Oxford University. After graduation, she worked with emotionally disturbed children in Sheffield and then moved into publishing in 1985. She became acting literary editor at the New Statesman and then moved to the Observer, where she was deputy literary editor for five years. It was during her time at the New Statesman that she met Sean French.
Sean French was born in May 1959 in Bristol to a British father and Swedish mother. He also has a first-class honors degree in English Literature from Oxford University. After graduation, he became a theatre critic for Vogue magazine and then worked at the Sunday Times as deputy literary editor and television critic. He also worked as a film critic for Marie Claire and deputy editor of New Society. Sean and Nicci got married in Hackney in October 1990 and have two daughters together. Sean had two novels and numerous non-fiction books published before he began working on joint novels with Nicci under the pseudonym Nicci French.