Dawn French Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Dawn French
Dawn Roma French was born October 11, 1957 in Holyhead, Wales to English parents, and she has an older brother, named Gary. Her dad served in the Royal Air Force, was stationed at RAF Valley and later on RAF Leconfield, where Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother went to have tea at French’s home at the age of three.

She credits her dad for her self-belief and self-confidence, since he told her how beautiful she was every day. Her dad taught her to value herself, and said how beautiful she was and was the most precious thing in his life. Her dad had a history of severe depression and had made two suicide attempts, however was able to conceal his illness from Gary and Dawn. When she was nineteen, however, he committed suicide.

In the year 1977, she started studying drama at Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, where she met Jennifer Saunders, her future comedy partner. They both came from RAF backgrounds, and had grown up on the same base, even had the same best friend, despite never having met each other. They originally didn’t like each other since French wanted to become a drama teacher, whereas Saunders loathed this idea and disliked French for being so enthusiastic and confident about the course.

They shared a flat during college and were influenced to do comedy by their flatmates as a part of their projects for their college classes. After they talked in depth for the first time, and came to be friends. French, during college, broke up with her fiance, a former Royal Navy officer.

After they graduated from the Royal Central School, they decided to form a double-act called the Menopause Sisters. They wore tampons in their ears, which Saunders describes as being pretty cringeworthy. They’d later come to public attention as members of the Comic Strip during the early eighties.

Together, they wrote and starred in their comedy series “French & Saunders”, which debuted in the year 1987. The duo has spoofed many celebrities like the Spice Girls, Cher, Madonna, and Catherine Zeta-Jones. They’ve also parodied films like Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

Dawn’s biggest solo television role has been as the title figure in “The Vicar of Dibley”, a long running and popular BBC comedy, which was created for her by Richard Curtis. She stars as Geraldine Granger, who is a vicar of a tiny fictional village. An audience of 12.3 million watched the last full-length episode to see her character’s wedding ceremony, for which she was nominated for a BAFTA for Best Comedy Performance.

On October 20, 1984, she married Lenny Henry, a comedian on the alternative comedy circuit, in Covent Garden, London. They adopted Billie, a daughter. After 25 years of marriage, they couple divorced.

In 2011, she started dating Mark Bignell, a charity executive, and in 2013, they were married.

“A Tiny Bit Marvelous” is the first stand alone novel and was released in the year 2010. Everybody hates the perfect family. So you’ll certainly love the Battles. Meet Mo Battle, who is about to turn fifty and is the mother of two hormonal and helpless teens. There is Dora, age seventeen, that blames Mo for just about EVERYTHING. Then Peter that believes he is quite simply as marvelous and charming as Oscar Wilde, his hero. Somewhere, just keeping quiet, is Dad. Who’s just, well, Dad.

But Mo’s having a crisis, because she is about to do something that’s unusually selfish and wild, which is going to leave the entire family teetering on the edge of a precipice. Is the family going to fall? Or are they going to, when it truly matters, be there for one another?

“Oh Dear Silvia” is the second stand alone novel and was released in the year 2012. Who’s in Coma Suite Number 5? Some matchless lover? Some selfless martyr? Some supreme egotist? Some cherished sister or some selfish wife? Maybe a bad mom? All of the above, because this is Silvia Shute who’s always done precisely what she wanted to do. Until now, when her life shockingly, suddenly stops.

Her past holds a horrible and dark secret, and now that she’s unconscious in a hospital bed, her never ending stream of visitors are about to reveal the mystery behind her broken life. And she has to just lie there, victim of the borings, the beloveds, the babblings, and the just plain bonkers.

Like it or don’t, the truth is going to pay her a visit. Again. And again and again.

“According to YES” is the third stand alone novel and was released in the year 2015. The Foreign Land of the Very Wealthy, also called Manhattan’s Upper East Side, has got its own rigid code of conduct. It is a code that is strictly adhered to by the Wilder-Bingham family. Fun, no thanks. Emotional displays are unacceptable. And unruly behavior is certainly not welcome.

This is Glenn Wilder-Bingham’s domain. A gorgeously displayed and impeccably edited fortress of restraint. So when an eccentric thirty-eight year old primary school instructor from England, named Rosie Kitto, bounces on into their lives with just a secret sorrow and a heart that is just as big as this city, no one realizes quite yet that she’s not yet read the rule book.

For the Wilder-Bingham family, whose lives start unraveling thread by thread, the repercussions are explosive. Since after a lifetime of just saying no, what is going to happen once everybody begins saying yes?

“Because of You”is the fourth stand alone novel and was released in the year 2020. Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock. Midnight. The old millennium becomes the new. In the exact same hospital, two incredibly different women give birth to two incredibly similar daughters. Anna leaves with empty arms, while Hope leaves with a beautiful baby daughter.

Seventeen years go by, and the gods that keep an eye over broken hearted moms wreak their mighty revenge, and the truth begins rolling, horrible and deep, toward each of them. The powers of mother-love are going to be tested to their limits. Possibly even beyond them.