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From struggling English teacher to bestselling thriller writer AND friend of OutNewsGlobal…Samantha Lee Howe has beaten all the odds!

She has not only set the American book charts on fire with her novel The Stranger In Our Bed, but her debut as screenwriter of the film of the same name has had the US film industry buzzing.

“It all feels like a dream,” says Manchester-born Samantha, who left school at 16 with no qualifications and no future. Struggling to make a living, Samantha worked as a kiss-a-gram and secretary before training as a hairdresser in the evenings: anything to try to better her lot.

She entered a dysfunctional marriage to a man 27 years her senior, and gave birth to her daughter, Linzi. Samantha’s dreams within the relationship were often crushed by her controlling and demanding husband. However, Samantha had begun to pen short stories and poems, which earned her a place at Bolton University, studying for a BA in English and Writing for Performance.

Writing was a way to escape from reality, and to escape her husband’s clutches who saw her endeavours as “a total waste of time!” Despite all this negativity, Samantha graduated with a BA (Hons), and went on to escape the marriage, divorcing her husband, and moving to North Wales.

Samantha taught English  up to ‘A’ Level, but just knew it was never going to be enough. In 2007 she began her professional writing career with her first novel, and has never looked back, working for small, medium, and large publishers, writing novels and short stories ever since.

In February 2020, Samantha’s first psychological thriller, The Stranger in Our Bed, was released by HarperCollins One More Chapter, and immediately caused a stir in the industry. This was followed in June 2020 with the signing of a three-book deal for an explosive spy thriller trilogy, The House of Killers (The House of Killers (Book 1), Kill Or Die (Book 2) and Kill A Spy (Book 3)). The titles were all released in 2021. Pitched as Killing Eve meets Jason Bourne, the books chronicle a nerve-shredding, enemies to lovers, tale that simmers with obsession.

In August 2020, Samantha signed a deal with new production company Buffalo Dragon for the option and screenplay for The Stranger in Our Bed. The film was made during the Covid-19 lockdown and stars Samantha Bond, Emily Berrington and Ben Lloyd-Hughes, and premiers on the North American ShowTime channel on July 1 2022.

Samantha is now in a happy marriage to second husband David J Howe, and is Patron of the charity POhWER, which gives support to those who are often socially excluded.

Samantha says she keeps pinching herself as to how well the books have done, but her proudest moment is still being a mum to Linzi, a wife to David, and looking after her cats Leeloo and Skye.

However seeing her name on the big screen comes a close second!

About the author

Steven Smith

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