Marcia Hutchinson
Marcia Hutchinson is an award-winning publisher, lawyer, community activist and former Labour Councillor who became a full-time writer aged sixty. After growing up in Bradford and studying at Oxford University (the first pupil from her school to do so), Marcia worked in law before founding educational publishing company Primary Colours and was awarded an MBE for services to Cultural Diversity in 2010. She is the co-author with Kate Griffin (under the pseudonym Lila Cain) of the critically acclaimed historical fiction novel The Blackbirds of St Giles (Simon & Schuster, 2025). The Mercy Step is Marcia’s first solo novel. She was named an Observer Best Debut Novelist of 2025.