Fiona Sussman

Fiona Stewart Sussman (born 1965) is a New Zealand novelist, short story writer and doctor. Born in Johannesburg, South Africa, she moved to New Zealand in 1989 where she completed her medical degree and went on to work as a general practitioner until becoming a full-time writer in 2003. She has published a number of award-winning novels since 2014. She has also won awards for her short stories, including the Sunday Star-Times Short Story Award in 2018.

Early life and medical career Sussman was born in Johannesburg. Her father worked as a publisher at Heinemann; she began writing at an early age but chose to study medicine after his death from stomach cancer. She obtained a Bachelor of Arts from the University of the Witwatersrand in 1986 and began her medical degree; while studying she was part of a group of medical students who refused to work in segregated whites-only hospitals. After meeting her husband, a fellow medical student, they emigrated to New Zealand in 1989. and together with her husband founded the Aotearoa Charity Hospital in Auckland in 2008. she continues to be a trustee of the hospital, which provides free surgery to patients who cannot obtain it through the public health system. and included it on a list of the best books of 2016. As a result of this novel she was invited to the Bloody Scotland writing festival in Stirling, Scotland. and was a finalist for the Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel 2023. Sussman noted that The Doctor's Wife is her first novel to include a medical background, and said "it was quite fun and satisfying to tie together my two disparate professions".

Selected works Novels Shifting Colours (Allison & Busby, UK, 2014), also published as Another Woman's Daughter (Berkley Books, US, 2014) The Last Time We Spoke (Allison & Busby, UK, 2016). Also translated into Polish: Ostatni Raz, Gdy Rozmawialismy (Wydawnictwo Kobiece Lukasz Kierus, Poland, 2018) Addressed to Greta (Bateman Books, 2020) The Doctor's Wife (Bateman Books, 2022), also published as In Sickness and in Health (Legend Press, UK, 2024)

Short stories "A Very Important Date" (2008) "The Oath" (2009) "The Bottom Line" (2011) "The Gift" (2012) "Roading" (2012) "Black Toes" (2013) "The Fall" (2016) "Mad Men" (2018) "A Breath, A Bunk, A Land, A Sky" (2020)