Beginner’s Pluck: 'I always knew I wanted to be a writer'

Penelope Slocombe's 'Sunbirds' is immersive, atmospheric, and beautifully written

Penelope Slocombe spent her childhood between the Findhorn Foundation — a new age community in the Northeast of Scotland, and an outpost on the tiny island of Erraid.

Penelope spent her childhood between the Findhorn Foundation — a new age community in the Northeast of Scotland, and an outpost on the tiny island of Erraid.

“I always knew I wanted to be a writer,” she says. “Dad wrote plays for local community groups and ghost-wrote a biography on the founder of Findhorn.

“He was always talking about writing a novel, but he died at 49.”

I worried I’d be like him, always talking about it but never doing it.

During her gap year, Penelope travelled in India. After her degree, she walked the Camino then settled in Barcelona for four-and-a-half years teaching English as a foreign language.

“Then my partner and I moved to London.”

She continued to teach, and in 2017 took her MA online and wrote a draft of her debut, finishing it in 2019.

“I went back to teaching part-time, and after my son was born, I was at home with him and writing. Then the pandemic happened, and I had another baby.”

Who is Penelope Slocombe?

Date/place of birth: 1983/Inverness.

Education: Forres Academy; Glasgow University, English Literature; Manchester Metropolitan University, MA in Creative Writing.

Home: London.

Family: Partner, Luis; sons Findlay, 7, and Emilio, 2.

The day job: A part-time ESI coordinator.

In another life: “I’d have gone into theatre, directing rather than acting.”

Favourite writers: Sarah Waters; Anne Patchett; Kate Atkinson; Cathy Sweeney; Miranda July; Rose Ruane.

Second book: “I’ve planned it. I’m looking at a woman in her 40s and the unravelling that can happen.”

Top tip: Don’t give up. It took me almost a year to find an agent — I almost didn’t send her the manuscript. So much is down to timing, luck, and perseverance.

Instagram: @Penelope.author

The debut

Sunbirds

John Murray, €20.14/ Kindle, €12.93

When Anne’s son, Torran, disappears in India, she spends every moment searching for him — never believing that he is dead. 

Seven years later, her niece reveals new information, and the two venture into the Himalayas to a community living in Sunshine House.

Will they find him?

“I wanted to show someone whose grief thrusts them into a new life to become the person they should have been.”

The verdict: Immersive, atmospheric, and beautifully written.