Francine Toon

The Editor & Author

Previously Hachette
‍
Before joining The Novelry, Francine Toon was a Commissioning Editor at Sceptre, Hodder & Stoughton’s literary imprint, part of Hachette U.K. She published distinctive, prize-winning fiction and memoir and worked on the novels of bestselling, world-renowned authors.

At Sceptre, Francine was known for bringing warmth and creativity to her meticulous editorial process and for fostering strong working relationships with authors. She consistently championed underrepresented voices and developed initiatives to make publishing more accessible and transparent to authors from all walks of life. Mentoring new writers was one of the most rewarding aspects of Francine’s time at Hachette. She loves nothing more than discussing a work-in-progress, from the big, thematic ideas to the minutiae of sentence structure.

With over a decade’s worth of experience, Francine has edited a broad range of genres, including literary, memoir, crime, historical and reading group, and gained an in-depth knowledge of the publishing industry as a result. Early in her career she worked on the novels of Stephen King, John le Carré, Fredrik Backman, and Erin Kelly. Later, as an editor of literary fiction and memoir, she published award-winning authors such as Ned Beauman, Jessica Andrews, Rowan Hisayo-Buchanan, Huma Qureshi (a graduate of The Novelry), and the New York Times bestseller Mikel Jollett.

At The Novelry, Francine brings the dual perspective of an experienced editor and bestselling author to ensure showstopping submissions.

Editor by day, prize-winning novelist by night

As an editor and an author, Francine has gained invaluable insight from both sides of the publishing process. Her debut novel Pine, published by Doubleday, was a number one Sunday Times bestseller and a Waterstones Thriller of the Month. Pine won the 2020 McIlvanney Prize, was shortlisted for Bloody Scotland’s Scottish Crime Debut of the Year, and longlisted for the Highland Book Prize and the Deborah Rogers Foundation Writer’s Award.

Her second novel, Bluff, a Kindle bestseller, was published in November 2025.

She came to novel writing via poetry. Her poems have been published in the Sunday Times, The Best British Poetry 2013 and 2015 anthologies, Poetry London, and Ambit among other publications.

Praise for Pine:

‘A literary gothic thriller to chill the marrow.’ — Guardian

‘The novel’s strength is its evocation of bleak landscapes and complex characters.’ — Sunday Times

‘(A) pacy horror-tinged novel.’ — Telegraph, Best First Novels of 2020

‘Splicing small-town domestic drama with grisly mystery and occult thrills, it’s a cleverly crafted debut.’ — Metro

Praise for Bluff:

‘Fabulous’ — Sunday Times

‘Francine Toon spins a brooding mystery which shimmers with unease’ — Lucy Rose, author of The Lamb

‘Toon’s gift for creating an otherworldly atmosphere in small towns with big secrets is present once again in a novel that explores the desire to escape the ordinary’ — Scotsman

‘Utterly gripping’ — Scottish Field

‘[A] masterclass in suspense’ — Bookseller

Francine’s Genres

• Cozy Crime
• Gothic
• Historical Fiction
• Literary Fiction
• Reading Group Fiction