M G Leonard

Maya Gabrielle, (born 16 May 1974) is a British novelist writing children's fiction under the pen name M.G. Leonard. Her debut novel Beetle Boy, published in 2016 by Chicken House in the UK, Scholastic in the US and Canada, has sold into twenty countries world wide. Beetle Boy is the first book in The Beetle Trilogy.
M.G. Leonard said she was terrified of beetles until she started researching them for a book. She realised that the fascinating creatures, which support the eco-system of the planet, deserved to be the heroes, not the villains, of the story. So she set about writing the most compelling, funny and heart-warming adventure she could summon, about bravery, friendship and beetles.
Leonard wrote her first book at 5am in the morning over a six month period whilst working as a digital producer for the National Theatre. She has a first-class honours degree in English Literature from the Open University and an MA in Shakespeare Studies from Kings College London.
She works in London as the Senior Digital Media Producer for the National Theatre, and previously worked in similar positions at the Royal Opera House and Shakespeare’s Globe. Leaonrd spent her early career in the music industry running Setanta Records, an independent record label, and managing bands, most notably The Divine Comedy. After leaving the music industry, she trained as an actor, dabbling in directing and producing as well as performing, before deciding to write her stories down. Leonard lives in Brighton with her partner and two sons.
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Beetle Boy
When Dr Bartholomew Cuttle disappears from inside a locked room at the Natural History Museum, the police are stumped. But Darkus Cuttle refuses to accept that his father would have
willfully abandoned him, leaving him an orphan. With the help of his Uncle Max, his new friends Bertolt and Virginia, and a most unusual sidekick, Baxter the rhinoceros beetle, Darkus embarks
on a quest to uncover the truth. Does the evil Lucretia Cutter, with her penchant for living jewellery, have something to do with his father’s disappearance?
Beetle Boy is the first in a trilogy. Leonard wrote the book over a six month period snatching a couple of hours a day early in the morning before leaving for her full-time job as Digital Producer at
the National Theatre. She was quickly signed up by Barry Cunningham, the man who signed J.K. Rowling to Bloomsbury for her first Harry Potter book.

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