Writer, teacher and lifelong story-lover

Meet Carole Ryder

Carole was born in Liverpool and lived just around the corner from Paul McCartney. Sadly, they never met as she was only eight when Beatlemania took off. But she can claim to have picked leaves off his front hedge, which is almost the same thing.

Growing up as a police dog handler’s daughter, there were many different German Shepherd dogs that lived with the family. Glynn was their favourite and he is the inspiration for the dog at the heart of her novel.

Carole Ryder beside a statue of Jane Austen — Carole stepping out from behind her favourite author, Jane Austen.

A lifelong love of stories

After studying English at university, Carole enjoyed sharing her love for Jane Austen and Shakespeare as a teacher at schools in Liverpool, Hertfordshire and Cambridge. In her forties, she became a school’s Marketing Director. Writing press releases and creating a school prospectus was good training for writing a novel.

English teachers often dream of writing a novel. After many years, Carole has stepped out from behind her favourite author, Jane Austen, and written her own witty novel.

Eight sun-soaked years in Los Angeles

California dreaming

Carole was catapulted to glamorous, sun-soaked Los Angeles for eight years in her fifties with her husband’s job. Navigating the menopause and expat life, Carole embraced LA’s culture of creativity, reinvention and lots of celebrities. She somehow resisted throwing herself at Colin Firth on a post-Oscars flight and managed not to interrupt Harrison Ford while he was enjoying a quiet drink.

She found her creative tribe studying screenwriting at UCLA, although the endless sunshine proved a serious distraction from winning an Oscar for best screenplay.

Her debut novel Unleashed in LA was inspired by the bewildering expat feeling of being a British fish out of water, surrounded by Hollywood dreams, LA’s wacky dog culture and wellness gurus.

Carole Ryder standing on a sunny street in Los Angeles

Back home, Carole is embracing life in her seventies on the Dorset coast—the California of the UK, with fewer palm trees, less sunshine and rather more sensible footwear.

She still believes it’s never too late for a new adventure and reinvention or seeing Unleashed in LA made into a movie.

Talks and interviews

Carole is available for talks, book events and interviews. Get in touch to discuss an appearance, conversation or feature.

Illustration of a seated German Shepherd