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Author · Storyteller
Mara Cliffe
@maracliffe
Historical fiction writer fascinated by old houses, buried secrets and the lives history almost forgot.
Behind the stories
About the writer
Mara writes historical and gothic fiction shaped by place, memory and the secrets people leave behind. She is particularly drawn to old cities, family histories and characters caught between duty and desire.
History leaves fingerprints everywhere if you know where to look.
Books and story worlds
Stories by Mara Cliffe
On the writing desk
Currently creating
First draft
The House at Stonethwaite Close
In late-Victorian York, a young widow takes a position as companion in a decaying house on the edge of the city, where the family she serves is guarding more than its dwindling name. As she begins to piece together the house’s past through letters, ledgers and half-buried local gossip, she finds that the silence inside Stonethwaite Close has been carefully maintained for generations. What she uncovers threatens not only the household’s future, but her own claim to the life she is trying to build.
21%
Draft progress
Around The Globe
Recent conversations
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Romance
Safe and familiar are not the same thing, though romance often treats them as if they are.
16 August 2026
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Feedback Wanted
Drafting has always had a great deal of dull, necessary labour in it. Sorting notes, tidying research, spotting the p...
14 August 2026
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Brainstorm
A cover can look perfectly serviceable on a phone and still fall apart in print.
14 August 2026