Hampshire &amp; Isle of Wight


<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/surrey/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2026/03/Ava-Glass-1.jpg" alt="Author Ava Glass" class="wp-image-64829" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Author Ava Glass</figcaption></figure>



<p>Ava Glass isn’t just the UK’s top-selling female spy author (with a cool 2 million books sold) – she’s lived the life, too. Drawing on her time working with MI5, her novels peel back the curtain on the shadowy world of female espionage. Her fourth book,&nbsp;<em>The Hiding Season</em>&nbsp;(out late March), takes things a step further, exploring the fallout for the ordinary people who get caught in spies’ crosshairs – something Ava knows all about.</p>



<p>Now based in Farnham, she’s also got a past life as a crime reporter in the US, covering grisly murders and kidnappings alongside the FBI (yes, really). In short: she’s seen it all – and then written about it. We couldn’t wait to get the inside scoop (don’t worry, no interrogation tactics required).</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-first-drew-you-to-intelligence-work-and-what-surprised-you-most-once-you-were-actually-on-the-inside"><em>What first drew you to intelligence work, and what surprised you most once you were actually on the inside?</em></h3>



<p>I worked as a crime reporter for a few years, and then as an editor at a London publisher. One of the people I met through that role contacted me unexpectedly and said, ‘I’ve taken a job for the government and am looking for someone to write about terrorism without being scared, and I thought of you.’ It was a hell of an invitation so, when I was officially offered the job in counterterrorism communications, I said yes!</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-did-being-a-woman-shape-your-experience-in-an-environment-that-s-often-portrayed-as-male-dominated"><em>How did being a woman shape your experience in an environment that’s often portrayed as male dominated</em>?</h3>



<p>Intelligence is no longer male dominated – certainly not as singularly male as it’s portrayed in film and TV. Women have always had a strong presence – female spies helped to win World War II with many losing their lives in that effort. Of course, more recently, there have been two female heads of MI5 and with Blaise Metreweli now being head of MI6, women have led every major intelligence department, yet we scarcely know they exist.</p>



<p>If you think about it, women make perfect spies – nobody ever suspects them, because they’re looking for a man. The first female spy I ever met fooled me completely! She was young – no older than 25 – and perfectly ordinary. This was when I’d first begun working for the government and my background security check was still underway. I met this young woman in the kitchen and we became friends. She was very curious about my background and life and I chatted away to her. It was months later that I learned she was an intelligence officer, double-checking my background. I didn’t suspect her in part because it had simply never occurred to me that an ordinary young woman might be a spy.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-personal-qualities-turned-out-to-be-more-important-than-the-ones-you-thought-you-d-need-when-working-with-spies"><em>What personal qualities turned out to be more important than the ones you thought you’d need when working with spies?</em></h3>



<p>It’s ironic now, given that I write novels about spies and talk about them all the time, but discretion is key in that world. I worked in communications, and we never knew who among the people we worked with were the spies. We were all curious, but we never discussed it because any one of us could have been a spy, and curiosity is not something spies like in their world. Too much discussion about who was or wasn’t a spy could get you in trouble – even the spies didn’t know who the other spies were!</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-made-you-decide-to-write-about-your-time"><em>What made you decide to write about your time?</em></h3>



<p>How could I not write about it! Its such fascinating world; from the start, I really wanted to write about that young woman who fooled me when I first went to work for the government. I wanted to understand how someone could be so young, so apparently normal, and so utterly deceptive. I dedicated my first spy novel to her.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/surrey/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2026/03/Untitled-design-11.jpg" alt="Spy author Ava Glass" class="wp-image-64584" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Surrey spy insider turned bestselling novelist Ava Glass who lives in Farnham.</figcaption></figure>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-misconceptions-about-espionage-do-you-most-enjoy-dismantling-through-your-fiction"><em>What misconceptions about espionage do you most enjoy dismantling through your fiction?</em></h3>



<p>Well, firstly, the idea that spies are male. And secondly, that they are somehow different from us. The spies are us. They’re your neighbours, your friends, the person you pass on the street, the woman in the coffee shop. If you live in a major city or travel a lot, you’ve undoubtedly met one. But you would never know. It is their job to blend in perfectly, to not be noticed, and to get the information they need. You can’t do that in a tuxedo.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-are-there-real-techniques-or-psychological-insights-from-your-intelligence-career-that-shape-how-you-build-tension"><em>Are there real techniques or psychological insights from your intelligence career that shape how you build tension?</em></h3>



<p>Every book I write is based on real life. If I ever get stuck when writing, I open a newspaper. Once you know what to look for, spy work is everywhere. It bleeds into the press when someone makes a mistake. And then, just for a second, we get a glimpse of the war the spies are waging, before the picture disappears again. So, I make my books as real as possible. And real life is filled with danger.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-before-government-work-you-were-a-crime-reporter-how-did-that-early-experience-shape-the-way-you-understand-danger-motive-and-human-behaviour"><em>Before government work, you were a crime reporter. How did that early experience shape the way you understand danger, motive, and human behaviour?</em></h3>



<p>Because I was only 22 years old when I became a crime reporter, I learned the art of writing at murder scenes, which shaped me in unexpected ways. I simply know a great deal about the reality of crime – for instance, nobody has ever discovered a bloody body and not gone into shock, it’s impossible. We are wired to be very afraid of violent death and some people simply freeze while others sort of stumble numbly through the process of getting help.</p>



<p>No one just calmly picks up the phone and notifies the police. There is something that happens to your brain – something physiological. Adrenaline, fear – they impact all of us. I’ve seen it happen. I’ve felt it. So, when I write about violence it is my duty, in a way, to describe how it really works. I find the ‘Emily walked from her mother’s body to the phone and calmly dialled 999,’ books impossible to read. Emily would be screaming!</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-your-latest-novel-explores-the-damage-that-spies-do-to-those-who-accidentally-cross-their-path-what-inspired-you-to-shift-the-angle-toward-the-collateral-impact-of-espionage"><em>Your latest novel explores “the damage that spies do to those who accidentally cross their path.” What inspired you to shift the angle toward the collateral impact of espionage?</em></h3>



<p>I’ve written three Emma Makepeace books all from the perspective of a spy. These books allowed me to explore what it’s like to work in intelligence – to be part of that world. But in each of those books there are also non-spy characters – normal civilians whom my spy uses to get information. She never sees those people again, so she doesn’t have to think about what it’s like to be them. What it’s like to be used in that way.</p>



<p><em>The Hiding Season</em> gave me the chance to really look at how it feels to be the one who finds her life turned upside down by an encounter with spies. Mixing with spies is always bruising for normal people. They know everything about us right down to the contents of our bank accounts, and we don’t even know that they’re spies so it’s not a fair fight. I wanted to look at how someone might try to stand up for themselves in that world.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/surrey/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2026/03/Untitled-design-12.jpg" alt="Book cover - The Hiding Season by A.C. Glass." class="wp-image-64585" /></figure>



<p><em>Ava Glass’s new novel <strong><a href="https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/458760/the-hiding-season-by-glass-ac/9781529972009" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Hiding Season</a></strong> is published in Hardback by Penguin Cornerstone on 26 March.</em> <em>Find her at the Hay on Wye Festival on 26 May</em>.</p>



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-want-more">WANT MORE?</h2>



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A view to a thrill: local author Ava Glass on secrets, spies and storytelling

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