{{Short description|English author}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox person | name = Adele Parks | honorific_suffix = {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|MBE}} | birth_name = | image = | image_size = | caption = | birth_date = | birth_place = Teesside, England | death_date = | death_place = | occupation = Author | alma_mater = University of Leicester | spouse = | parents = | children = | website = {{URL|https://www.adeleparks.com/}} }} '''Adele Parks''' {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|MBE}} (born 1969 or 1970) is an English women's fiction author. She has written 24 novels in her 24-year career as an author and is one of the bestselling authors of women's fiction in the United Kingdom.
==Biography== Parks is from Teesside, near Middlesbrough, in North Yorkshire.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://sheerluxe.com/culture/books-podcasts/my-life-books-adele-parks|title=My Life In Books: Adele Parks|work=SheerLuxe|date=18 July 2023|accessdate=2 October 2024}}</ref> She decided she wanted to be a writer at the age of seven. She studied English at the University of Leicester. Before becoming a novelist, Parks worked in advertising and management consultancy.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2016-01-10|title=How We Met: Adele Parks & Jane Fallon|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/adele-parks-jane-fallon-i-was-worried-i-d-be-scared-of-her-because-of-the-way-the-heroines-are-in-her-books-ballsy-arsey-in-your-face-a6803401.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210909160113/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/adele-parks-jane-fallon-i-was-worried-i-d-be-scared-of-her-because-of-the-way-the-heroines-are-in-her-books-ballsy-arsey-in-your-face-a6803401.html |archive-date=2021-09-09 |url-access=limited |url-status=live|access-date=2021-11-23|website=The Independent|language=en}}</ref> Her debut novel, ''Playing Away'', was released in 2000.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|date=2012-06-30|title=Adele Parks: 'I think I am a really good writer'|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/adele-parks-i-think-i-am-a-really-good-writer-7901767.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120702093629/http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/adele-parks-i-think-i-am-a-really-good-writer-7901767.html |archive-date=2012-07-02 |url-access=limited |url-status=live|access-date=2021-11-23|website=The Independent|language=en}}</ref>
As of January 2025, she has sold more than 5.5 million UK edition copies of her novels<ref name="Official Website">{{cite web |title=www.adeleparks.com |url=https://www.adeleparks.com/publicity |website=www.adeleparks.com |access-date=3 January 2022}}</ref> and her books have been translated into 31 languages.<ref name="Official Website"/>{{Better citation needed|date=December 2022}} Every one of her 23 novels are bestsellers in the UK.
She was awarded with an MBE in the New Year Honours List 2022.<ref name="New Year Honours List 2022">{{cite web |title=UK Government |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/the-new-year-honours-2022 |website=www.gov.uk |date=31 December 2021 |access-date=3 January 2022}}</ref> She was a judge of the Costa Book Awards in 2010 and has regularly been the judge of the Costa Short Story Awards. In 2009 she was awarded an honorary doctorate, a Doctor of Letters, by Teesside University. Her Quick Read book, ''Happy Families'', won the Learners' Favourite Award. She is an ambassador for literacy charity The Reading Agency and a Patron of the National Literacy Trust. She is also a Patron of The Guildford Book Festival.{{citation needed|date=August 2023}}
''Lies, Lies, Lies'' was shortlisted for the 2020 Fiction Book of the Year in the British Book Awards.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thebookseller.com/news/british-book-awards-2020-books-year-shortlists-revealed-1196431|title=British Book Awards 2020: Books of the Year shortlists revealed {{!}} The Bookseller|website=www.thebookseller.com|access-date=2020-03-20}}</ref>
In 2020, Parks entered a deal with MPCA and Engage Productions for cinematic adaptations of her books.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|last=Wiseman|first=Andreas|date=2020-11-16|title='The Princess Switch: Switched Again' Producers Ink Deal With UK Novelist Adele Parks For Movie Adaptations|url=https://deadline.com/2020/11/princess-switch-christmas-prince-netlfix-adele-parks-deal-1234616134/|access-date=2021-11-23|website=Deadline|language=en-US}}</ref>
==Personal life== Parks has been married twice, divorcing her first husband aged 32.<ref name=":0" /> She has an adult son, Conrad.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Parks|first=Adele|title=My son is off to uni and I'm excited, not bereft... So why am I made to feel like a bad mother?|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/life/son-uni-excited-not-bereft-made-feel-like-bad-mother|url-status=live|website=The Telegraph|date=27 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190927132551/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/life/son-uni-excited-not-bereft-made-feel-like-bad-mother/ |archive-date=2019-09-27 }}</ref>
She is a Pescaterian<ref>{{Cite news |last=Parks |first=Adele |date=2025-08-27 |title=A moment that changed me: I gave up meat at 16 – and learned how to say no |url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2025/aug/27/moment-that-changed-me-adele-parks-gave-up-meat-learned-how-to-say-no |access-date=2026-05-24 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref>. She lives in Surrey with her husband<ref>{{Cite news |last=Howell |first=Madeleine |date=2020-12-03 |title=Adele Parks: 'I decided to be a writer when I was 7, but it seemed as likely as marrying a prince' |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/family/life/adele-parks-aged-7-told-parents-wanted-writer-sounded-likely/ |access-date=2026-05-24 |work=The Telegraph |language=en-GB |issn=0307-1235}}</ref>.
==Works== *''Playing Away'' (2000) *''Game Over'' (2001) *''Larger Than Life'' (2002) *''The Other Woman's Shoes'' (2003) *''Still Thinking of You'' (2004) *''Husbands'' (2005) *''Young Wives' Tales'' (2007) *''Happy Families'' (2008) *''Tell Me Something'' (2008) *''Love Lies'' (2009) *''Men I've Loved Before'' (2010) *''About Last Night'' (2011) *''Whatever It Takes'' (2012) *''The State We're In'' (2013) *''Spare Brides'' (2014) *''If You Go Away'' (2015) *''Love Is a Journey'' (2016) *''The Stranger in My Home'' (2016) *''The Image of You'' (2017) *''I Invited Her In'' (2018) *''Lies Lies Lies'' (2019) *''Just My Luck'' (2020) *''Both of You'' (2021) *''One Last Secret'' (2022) *''Just Between Us'' (2023) *''First Wife's Shadow'' (2024) *''Our Beautiful Mess'' (2025)
==References== {{Reflist|30em}}
==External links== *{{Official website|https://www.adeleparks.com/}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Parks, Adele}} Category:21st-century English novelists Category:Alumni of the University of Leicester Category:Living people Category:Members of the Order of the British Empire Category:Writers from North Yorkshire Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:21st-century English women novelists