Sally Hepworth

Sally Hepworth
OccupationWriter
Notable workThe Secrets of Midwives Darling Girls
Websitesallyhepworthauthor.com

Sally Hepworth is an Australian writer. She is best known for her novel The Secrets of Midwives, published in 2015.[1] Her book The Good Sister won the 2021 Davitt Award in the Adult Novel category.[2]

Early life

Sally Hepworth grew up in Melbourne, Australia.[3] Hepworth worked in both event management and human resources prior to becoming a writer.[4]

Career

While on maternity leave with her first child, Hepworth wrote Love Like the French, a novel about a British woman who goes to France after an accident leaves her husband in a coma.[5] The book was eventually published in Germany in 2014.[4]

In 2015, Hepworth released a second book, The Secrets of Midwives, that she wrote while pregnant with her second child. The novel is about three generations of midwives.[4][6] Her research for the book came from her own questions to midwives during check-ups, as well as reading fiction and nonfiction books on the subject.[4] KJ Dell'Antonia of The New York Times called it a "fast and fun read."[7] It received middling to positive reviews in Publishers Weekly, The Sydney Morning Herald, and Kirkus Reviews.[8][9][10]

Hepworth released The Things We Keep in 2016,[11] The Mother's Promise in 2017,[12] and The Family Next Door in 2018.[13] The Family Next Door was Hepworth's first novel set in her hometown of Melbourne, a trend she continued in her 2019 novel The Mother-in-Law.[14]

In 2024, she released Darling Girls, which won a Ned Kelly Award for Best Novel.[15]

Adaptations

The Family Next Door was made into a TV series of the same name, with scripts by Sarah Scheller, Pip Karmel, Julia Moriarty, and Andrew Anastasios. The series, directed by Emma Freeman, premiered on ABC Television in August 2025.[16]

Personal life

Hepworth has three children from her former marriage.[4][17] She lives in Melbourne.[18]

Bibliography

Publication year Title Original publisher ISBN
2025 Mad Mabel Pan MacMillan Australia ISBN 9781761266492
2024 Darling Girls St. Martin's Press ISBN 9781250284525
2023 The Soulmate St. Martin's Press ISBN 9781250229700
2022 The Younger Wife St. Martin's Press ISBN 9781250229618
2020 The Good Sister St. Martin's Press ISBN 9781760552190
2019 The Mother-in-Law St. Martin's Press ISBN 9781760552183
2018 The Family Next Door St. Martin's Press ISBN 9781250120892
2017 The Mother's Promise St. Martin's Press ISBN 9781250077752
2016 The Things We Keep St. Martin's Press ISBN 9781250051929
2015 The Secrets of Midwives St. Martin's Press ISBN 9781250051899
2014 Love Like the French Random House Germany ISBN 9783442382538

References

  1. ^ "Fiction review: 'The Secrets of Midwives,' by Sally Hepworth". Dallas News. 21 February 2015. Retrieved 26 April 2026.
  2. ^ "Davitt Awards winners announced". Books+Publishing. 30 August 2021. Retrieved 1 September 2021.
  3. ^ Rocca, Jane (7 June 2022). "Melbourne author Sally Hepworth's The Mother-in-Law set to become a Netflix series". Domain.
  4. ^ a b c d e Hardy, Karen (21 February 2015). "Sally Hepworth: How I gave birth to writing The Secrets of Midwives". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 13 July 2015.
  5. ^ Galanti, Donna. "Write-On Wednesdays! Here today with Aussie Sally Hepworth". The Element Trilogy. Retrieved 13 July 2015.
  6. ^ "Sally Hepworth recs some novels that feature midwives". USA Today. 11 February 2015. Retrieved 13 July 2015.
  7. ^ Dell'Antonia, KJ (7 April 2015). "Shelf, iPad, Bed Table: Reading March 2015". The New York Times. Retrieved 13 July 2015.
  8. ^ "The Secrets of Midwives". Publishers Weekly. 8 December 2014. Retrieved 13 July 2015.
  9. ^ Goldsworthy, Keryn (14 March 2015). "Short reviews of fiction by Samuel Kaye, Patrick Lenton, Bob Franklin, and Sally Hepworth". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 13 July 2015.
  10. ^ "Book review: The Secrets of Midwives". Kirkus Reviews. 7 December 2014. Retrieved 13 July 2015.
  11. ^ "The Things We Keep". Fantastic Fiction. Retrieved 13 July 2015.
  12. ^ "The Mother's Promise". Pan Macmillan Australia. Retrieved 26 April 2026.
  13. ^ "The Family Next Door". Pan Macmillan Australia. Retrieved 26 April 2026.
  14. ^ "The Mother-in-Law". Pan Macmillan Australia. Retrieved 26 April 2026.
  15. ^ "Ned Kelly Awards 2024 winners announced". Books+Publishing. 26 September 2024. Retrieved 26 April 2026.
  16. ^ "Screen Australia and ABC announce drama series The Family Next Door - Media centre". Screen Australia. Retrieved 6 July 2025.
  17. ^ Delaney, Ailish (5 August 2025). "Sally Hepworth had everything she thought she wanted. Then a podcast asked one simple question". Mamamia. Retrieved 26 April 2026.
  18. ^ "Sally Hepworth". Pan Macmillan Australia. Retrieved 26 April 2026.
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