Sarah Marie Graye was born in Manchester, United Kingdom, in 1975, to English Catholic parents. One of five daughters, to the outside world Sarah Marie’s childhood followed a relatively typical Manchester upbringing... until aged nine, when she was diagnosed with depression.

It’s a diagnosis that has stayed with Graye over three decades, and something she believes has coloured every life decision, including the one to write a novel.

Graye wrote The Second Cup as part of an MA Creative Writing practice as research degree at London South Bank University – where she was the vice-chancellor’s scholarship holder.

First published in July 2017, The Second Cup was longlisted for the Book Viral 2017 Millennium Book Award and was included in Read Freely’s Top 50 Indie Books 2017.

Graye was diagnosed with ADHD in November 2017... and published an extended edition of The Second Cup in February 2018 so she could diagnose one of her characters with the same condition.