Description /Buy link takes you to Amazon. As an Amazon Associate I earn money from qualifying purchases.
Jane Harper is a British Australian writer best known for ‘The Dry,’ her debut novel. Harper is a native of Manchester in the UK. Even though she acquired Australian citizenship after moving to the country at the age of eight, the author returned to the UK in her teenage years, eventually attending the University of Kent, where she studied English and History.
Get notified when Jane Harper releases a new book at BookNotification.com.
Order of Aaron Falk Series
| # | Read | Title | Published | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Dry | 2016 | Description / Buy | |
| 2 | Force of Nature | 2017 | Description / Buy | |
| 3 | Exiles | 2023 | Description / Buy |
Order of Jane Harper Standalone Novels
| # | Read | Title | Published | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Lost Man | 2018 | Description / Buy | |
| 2 | The Survivors | 2020 | Description / Buy |
Harper worked as a full-time journalist for over a decade. During that time, she harbored a strong desire to write fiction that first assaulted the author when she was a child. That desire went unfulfilled because Harper couldn’t figure out how to start.
That changed when she joined an online writing course in the mid-2010s. The class gave her the motivation to write and then submit her manuscript to a competition. Harper did not expect to win.
She was hoping to use the competition to acquire constructive feedback from the judges. She wanted them to tell her whether she should continue or abandon the manuscript. To her surprise, Harper won.
Even more astounding was the publishing figures who reached out to her, asking to read her novel. Before long, the author had secured an agent and a publisher. Harper told The Guardian during an interview that her debut novel changed her life.
She went from working as a journalist for the Herald Sun in Australia to being a published author with an incredibly successful first book. The transition was so drastic that it took Harper a while to adapt to her new life.
And then, a year later, Harper gave birth to her first child, which added to her joy. The author feels different. Her publishing success has given her a boost in confidence. ‘The Dry’ sold 1.5 million copies in Australia and 3.5 million abroad.
Years later, ‘The Dry’ received a film adaptation, further cementing Harper’s position as an Australian publishing star. Critics have praised her for promoting the Aussie crime fiction genre, not to mention introducing readers to the country’s exotic landscape.
Even though Harper uses fictional settings, she does plenty of research, going so far as to take research trips to locations that inspire her stories. The author has grown significantly as a writer over the years. The process of penning and editing a manuscript has become more streamlined.
Harper has an office away from home. It allows her to dedicate her weekdays to her craft. She doesn’t write every day. The author prefers to use some of her days for thinking and planning.
The more she plans, the easier and smoother the writing process becomes. Her phone is vital to her work because it lets the author make notes whenever inspiration strikes. The actual writing happens on a desktop computer.
Her family dictates her schedule. She usually writes for six hours a day while her children are at school. She tries to make those hours count.
Jane Harper Awards
The author has won Barry and Dagger Awards.
Jane Harper Books into Movies
‘The Dry’ and ‘Force of Nature’ received live-action movie adaptations in 2020 and 2023, respectively.
Best Jane Harper Books
The author has been praised for creating the Outback noir genre. Harper’s best novels include:
The Dry: Aaron Falk was hesitant to return home. After all, the townsfolk turned their backs on him two decades ago. Unfortunately, a childhood friend was dead, and he felt obligated to attend the funeral. But the town was buzzing with questions, and the Federal Police Investigator couldn’t distance himself from a growing scandal.
Someone had brutally murdered three members of a local family during the worst drought the farming community had seen in a century, and Falk was determined to find the culprit before the secret he shared with Luke Hadler surfaced.
Force of Nature: Five women left their air-conditioned office for a corporate retreat. The hike should have encouraged teamwork. Only four women returned. Now Aaron Falk is on the case. Alice Russell, the missing woman, knew too much.
If she was dead, Alice was most likely murdered because of the secrets bouncing around in her head about her employer and colleagues.
To determine what happened, Falk must sift through the eyewitness accounts of the surviving women, separating the truth from the lies until he can identify the killer.
When Does The Next Jane Harper book come out?
Jane Harper doesn't seem to have an upcoming book. Their newest book is Exiles and was released on January, 31st 2023. It is the newest book in the Aaron Falk Series.