The Scientist Who Wasn't There

‘A page-turner with a mystery to solve, and a meditation on what it means for a child to know their parents’ – Cathy Rentzenbrink‘An astonishingly original memoir about truth, identity and the ethics of science.’ – Ian Sansom * The Telegraph *Gripping – Alice O’Keeffe * The Times *An exceptional, entirely unpredictable, real-life thriller, this is not about death but life: how it is lived and perceived, what is real and what is not. Told from the inside, where it hurts the most. In today’s world, in the face of AI, fake news, the abandonment of fact checking and deep fake identities, Joanne, lawyer turned truth-sleuth, keeps you hooked throughout anticipating the next revelation as she crosses the boundaries of belief. Far, far stranger than fiction and far more salutary. – Michael Mansfield * author of The Power In The People *Briggs is able to make her narrative a page-turner… The wonderful writing style here sweeps between investigative journalism (it’s a core merit of the book) to a compound of magical realism and first-rate travel writing. Joanne’s viewpoint can flit from the macro to the everyday as if she is staring through the holes of the hag stones that her mother, a Blakean mystic, would collect at low tide on a Sussex beach… a debut book that shows charm, modesty, courage, and exceptional honesty. * Plays International *

Joanne’s debut book, The Scientist Who Wasn’t There, was awarded the first Bridport Prize for memoir in April 2023. She was a barrister for many years and has continued to work in other legal roles, in a career spanning nearly four decades. She lives in Sussex.