Cressida Connolly

Her third novel, Bad Relations, was published in 2022. The Times called it "her latest understated masterpiece", "beautiful" and "a ravishing novel"; while Country Life wrote that: "The novels of Cressida Connolly are a wonderful discovery" and "nostalgic, perceptively portrayed and beautifully written." The Observer described it as "haunting and beautiful", concluding: "I don't often wish a book were longer, but this one I did."

In 2020, Connolly was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

Connolly is the author of a collection of short stories, The Happiest Days, which won the PEN Macmillan Award; a biography of the Garman family, The Rare and The Beautiful; and a novel, My Former Heart, which won a special commendation from the Society of Authors. Her second novel, After the Party, was selected as a Waterstones Book of the Month and shortlisted for the Walter Scott Prize in 2019.

Connolly was the first wife (1982–1983) of The Sunday Times critic and writer A. A. Gill (died 10 December 2016). She married Worcestershire petal farmer Charles Hudson in 1985; the couple have three children.

Connolly grew up in Sussex. She is the only daughter of the critic and writer Cyril Connolly (died 26 November 1974). Her mother, Deirdre Levi, is the widow of the poet and writer Peter Levi (died 1 February 2000).

Cressida Connolly (born 14 January 1960) is an English novelist, biographer, journalist and critic.