The novelist and former Guardian journalist Susie Steiner, known for the Manon Bradshaw detective series, has died aged 51.
A tweet posted from her account on Sunday said: “Susie died yesterday after being diagnosed with a brain tumour three years ago. She lived with her illness with courage and good humour. She was much loved and will be much missed.”
Published in May 2020, Remain Silent was the third in the Manon series which Susie wrote with “a 9cm brain tumour squishing my brain out of shape”. This tumour was diagnosed as a glioblastoma (GBM).
In June of that year Susie wrote a Guardian article about how ‘It has been easier to cope with my cancer during lockdown - and books have been a lifeline’.
At the time Susie told us: “Brain cancer is a disease where very little research progress has been made, meaning the standard NHS treatment was devised 20 years ago and is a blunt instrument. I keep searching the internet desperately for the magic bullet that will save my life, but there isn’t one. We desperately need funding and research to make brain cancer curable.”
Hugh Adams our Head of Stakeholder Relations spoke with, and emailed, Susie many times over that summer and reflected on yesterday’s news: “All of Susie’s intelligence and inquisitiveness could not unearth a route away from the grim inevitability of her diagnosis. Her tragic premature death leaves those who knew and loved her deeply saddened but our resolve to improve outcomes for glioblastoma patients is only hardened by these tragedies. Our condolences in particular to her husband and sons at this immensely difficult time.”