Helen Walmsley-Johnson
Agent: Juliet Pickering
Assistant: Finlay Charlesworth
Biography: Helen, writing as The Invisible Woman, is a freelance writer and author of the popular online fashion column The Vintage Years, which she wrote for the Guardian. She moved to London in 2001 after losing patience with rampant workplace ageism in Leicestershire and Rutland where she grew up, was educated and later brought up her three daughters as a divorced single mum. She has also worked as a dancer, aerobics instructor, model, designer, artist, medical secretary and shop assistant - but not at the same time.
Helen has written a variety of opinion pieces for the Guardian and is a regular contributor to the 'In praise of…' column. She has spoken out against ageism on Woman's Hour and BBC radio. She has filmed and edited several short films both independently and for the Guardian and was commissioned to write pieces for The Guardian Guide to Making Video. A lover of good food she has also reviewed for the Square Meal Guide and magazine.
‘We love the way Helen writes. She tells it as it is because she KNOWS how it is.’ – Gransnet
‘THE INVISIBLE WOMAN always speaks to me, and for me. It's about saying up yours to the cult of youth, but also about seeing the life of the 50 + as hilariously funny’ – Professor Mary Beard
LOOK WHAT YOU MADE ME DO
Memoir, 336 pages
Macmillan, March 2018
Helen’s first husband controlled her life, from the people she saw to what was in her bank account. He alienated her from friends and family and even from their three daughters. Eventually, he threw her out and she painfully began to rebuild her life.
Then, divorced and in her early forties, she met Franc. Kind, charming, considerate Franc. For ten years she would be in his thrall, even when he too was telling her what to wear, what to eat, even what to think.
Look What You Made Me Do is her candid and utterly gripping memoir of how she was trapped by a smiling abuser, not once but twice. It is a vital guide to recognizing, understanding and surviving this sinister form of abuse and its often terrible legacy. It is also an inspirational account of how one woman found the courage to walk away.
THE INVISIBLE WOMAN
Memoir, 240 pages
Icon Books, June 2015
A funny, frank and essential book on ageing. Helen discusses what it is to reach your fifties, look both backwards and forwards, and how to continue pursuing adventures in later life even when it seems your brain and your body are working against you.