Leodora Darlington has spent years shaping bestselling books behind the scenes. Now, after building a career as an editor, championing emerging voices, and helping launch some of publishing’s big names, she’s firmly stepped into the spotlight herself with a debut novel that has quickly become one of the year’s biggest literary success stories. Selected as a Good Morning America Book Club pick, The Exes has introduced readers to a writer who combines razor-sharp storytelling with reflective exploration of relationships, identity, and human behaviour – delivering a thriller with both commercial appeal and nuanced perspective.
London-born and of Ghanaian heritage, Darlington entered the world of creative writing while studying at Brunel under literary heavyweights including Benjamin Zephaniah and Will Self, earning herself a distinction. Yet some of her earliest success came far from the classroom, with fantasy novels she secretly published on Wattpad under a pseudonym – one attracting millions of readers and reaching the platform’s top fantasy rankings before she ever signed a publishing contract. Her professional career would prove just as remarkable, taking her from the Harrods bookshop floor to Publishing Director at Hachette Book Group, while also founding the Owned Voices Novel Award to help aspiring writers from under-represented backgrounds find their own route into the industry.
Darlington’s intelligence, humour, and refreshing openness have quickly won over both devoted readers and new audiences alike, embracing seemingly opposite worlds with complete confidence and literary flair. She’s as happy discussing the mechanics of commercial thrillers and literary craft as she is talking about romance tropes, reality television, or the cultural fascination with true crime, arguing that great storytelling can exist just as comfortably in prestige literature as it can in popular entertainment. That same openness runs through the themes she unfolds in her writing, exploring intimate subjects like violence, fear, expectation, and the contrast between idealised romance and the reality that romantic relationships are not always safe for women.
Her debut novel, The Exes, delivers a compulsive psychological thriller with emotionally layers heaped beneath the surface. The story follows Natalie, a woman terrified she may be responsible for killing the people she once loved, as past and present gradually unravel to reveal family trauma, complicated romances, and long-buried secrets. While the novel delivers the twists expected of the genre, Darlington has spoken openly about wanting readers to come away with something more enduring: hope, the possibility of breaking generational cycles, and the idea that happiness can still be chosen even after difficult experiences in life.
Following its publication, The Exes quickly became an international talking point, earning widespread praise and significant attention after being selected as a Good Morning America Book Club pick in the United States. It’s certainly an impressive debut headline; but perhaps more importantly for the world of literature, it signifies the arrival of a compelling new literary voice – one shaped by years spent understanding both sides of the publishing world, and laced with the contemporary perspective, emotional intelligence, and cultural fluency that allows her storytelling to connect with modern readers in the way so many authors aspire to. And of course, this is just the prologue for Leodora – we can’t wait to see where this next chapter leads.
You can find out more about Leodora Darlington, and get your hands on her Good Morning America Book Club pick The Exes, right here.
