Local Legends #71: Sue Bentley

On this week's episode of Local Legends Martin chats with best-selling author of over 80 books, Sue Bentley!

As Sue explains, her decision to 'become a writer' didn't happen particularly early in her life, though she was ever a reader, inspired by books like Denys Watkins-Pitchford's The Little Grey Men, Kenneth Grahame's Wind in the Willows, and C.S. Lewis' The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe.

Only when she was a Mum with children off at school did she decide to put pen to paper, and after ten years of work found herself in print - as an erotic novelist, working under the first of what soon became many pen names!

From children's fairy stories to ghost written celebrity books to the dark Gothic fantasy she most enjoys writing today, she has had a fascinating career, rooted in a fascinating place!

We dig into Northamptonshire's folklore and heritage, including Sue's love of the Romantic poet John Clare, and, because it's 'Birth Week' on Three Ravens we chat birth folklore as well, including fairy 'stocks', changelings, and 'Chime Children'.

We of course get into Sue's most recent novels as well, including We Other, Second Skin, and her upcoming book Flesh Endures - and along the way dig into condescending ideas of 'Women's Fiction' and Romantasy, the significance of the Lang Fairy Tales, and a whole bunch more!

Learn more about Sue and her wonderful books at https://www.suebentley.co.uk - though Sue's brand new website goes live on 28th August - which is also the day of the cover reveal for Flesh Endures, so mark your diaries!

And as for where to find Sue on social media, she is on Instagram @therealsuebentley, Facebook @suebentleyauthor and on TikTok @suebentley09

About Three Ravens 🔮

Three Ravens is a completely independent English myth and folklore podcast where we share stories, celebrate folk culture, and fall backwards through the hedgerows of history.

Hosted by real-life couple Eleanor Conlon and Martin Vaux, and mostly recorded at our home in rural Sussex in southern England, Three Ravens is rated 4.8/5 from over 500 reviews and has grown by word of mouth care of our lovely listener community ‘The Conspiracy of Ravens.’

We release three episodes a week, on Mondays, Thursday and Saturdays, through which we explore folktales, folkways, fairy stories, folk songs, mythology, local heritage, seasonal customs and traditional beliefs.

Our research inspires our retellings of stories from across history and culture, with episodes standing alone but connected together across over 500 chatty, mostly light-hearted, swear-free installments driven by passion, kindness and curiosity.

Now ranked as an all-time Top 5 podcast across several categories by Goodpods, charting in the Spotify, Apple and Rephonic UK Fiction Top 10 across 2024, 2025 and 2026, if you’re interested in ghosts, monsters, regional beliefs, and the things that unite us all, then join us round the campfire and listen in…

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