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Francine Toon

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Francine Toon, also writing as Francine Elena, is a British writer.

Early life

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Toon was born in Canterbury, England. Her family moved to the Scottish Highlands, near Dornoch before moving to St Andrews,Fife where Toon attended Madras College.[1] She "returned regularly for holidays" to Sutherland "until she was into her late teens"[2] and "the northern wilds have haunted her ever since, and form the backdrop to her debut novel".[3] She attended Edinburgh University,[2] where she wrote for The Student, before interning at Chambers Dictionaries.[2] After university she moved to London to work in publishing. She was a commissioning editor at Sceptre, an imprint of Hachette,[3] and then became an editor for The Novelry, a provider of online writing courses.[4]

Writing

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Her debut novel, Pine, won the 2020 McIlvanney Prize for "the best Scottish crime book of the year",[5] and was shortlisted for the 2020 Bloody Scotland Debut Prize[6] and longlisted for the Highland Book Prize and the Deborah Rogers Foundation Writers Award. The Guardian's reviewer said that it "inhabits the woods and fells like a secretive wild animal" and called it a "well-written tale."[7] The Scotsman's reviewer found that "There’s much to admire in Pine" and that the book is "carefully calibrated to make every single hair on the back of your neck stand up on end as if you'd just heard a twig snap behind you in a forest at midnight."[8] It was included in The Telegraph's "Best first novels to look out for in 2020".[9]

Her second novel, Bluff, was announced in 2025 [10]

Her poetry, written under the name Francine Elena, has appeared in publications including The Best British Poetry 2013,[11] The Best British Poetry 2015,[12] The Sunday Times,[13] Poetry London,[14] Ambit,[15] The Honest Ulsterman,[16] The Quietus,[17] and Wasafiri.[18]

References

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  1. ^ "Madras Trophies". www.madrascollegearchive.org.uk. Retrieved 2023-01-25.
  2. ^ a b c Didcock, Barry (4 July 2020). "The young Gothic crime writer making a mark: Francine Toon, Bloody Scotland award-nominated author of Highland-set chiller Pine". HeraldScotland. Retrieved 25 January 2023.
  3. ^ a b McAloon, Jonathan (30 January 2020). "Francine Toon : 'Witches are empowered women'". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 September 2022.
  4. ^ "Francine Toon: editor". www.thenovelry.com. The Novelry. Retrieved 18 June 2023.
  5. ^ "The McIlvanney Prize". Bloody Scotland. Retrieved 29 September 2022.
  6. ^ "The Bloody Scotland Debut Prize shortlist 2020". Bloody Scotland. Retrieved 25 January 2023.
  7. ^ O'Grady, Carrie (23 January 2020). "Pine by Francine Toon review – a chilling gothic thriller". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 September 2022.
  8. ^ Cox, Roger (5 February 2020). "Book review: Pine, by Francine Toon". www.scotsman.com. Retrieved 29 September 2022.
  9. ^ Carington, Francesca (4 January 2020). "The best first novels to look out for in 2020". The Telegraph. Retrieved 29 September 2022.
  10. ^ "Doubleday to publish Bluff, the new novel by Francine Toon". The Bookseller. Retrieved 2025-07-19.
  11. ^ "The Best British Poetry 2013 By Ahren Warner". www.wob.com. World of Books. Retrieved 25 January 2023.
  12. ^ "Best British Poetry 2015". Salt. Retrieved 25 January 2023.
  13. ^ "Ode to a 1980s Baton Twirling World Champion by Francine Elena". The Sunday Times. 12 July 2015. Retrieved 25 January 2023.
  14. ^ "Contents". Poetry London. No. 80. Spring 2015. Retrieved 25 January 2023.
  15. ^ "No. 220, Spring 2015 of Ambit on JSTOR". www.jstor.org. Retrieved 25 January 2023.
  16. ^ "Poetry: Four poems by Francine Elena". Honest Ulsterman. Retrieved 29 September 2022.
  17. ^ Smith, Karl (1 December 2013). "Tome On The Range: Two Poems By: Francine Elena". The Quietus. Retrieved 29 September 2022.
  18. ^ "Wasafiri Issue 83". Wasafiri Magazine. Retrieved 29 September 2022.
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