Carol Atherton is the author of Reading Lessons: An English Teacher’s Love Letter to the Books that Shape Us, which was shortlisted for the Indie Book Awards 2025. She has taught English since 1996 and is currently Head of English at a secondary school in Lincolnshire. Originally from Merseyside, she read English at Oxford. She lives in Lincolnshire with her husband and son. So Many Ways to Belong is her second book.