Author Guide · Contemporary Fiction & Memoir
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In 2007 Dawn Porter went on a crash diet for a BBC documentary, Super Slim Me, to see what it took to reach a size zero. For the next few years she made films about body image, polygamy and breast cancer, then turned to fiction: two teenage novels set on Guernsey, where she grew up, and in 2017 The Cows, a novel about three women and the internet’s appetite for judging them. She married the actor Chris O’Dowd in 2012 and has written as Dawn O’Porter since. Her books keep returning to the same territory: women’s bodies, the choices other people feel entitled to comment on, and friendship as the thing that holds. This guide covers her eight key books, in order, and where to begin.
By Lisanne Swart · 8 key books · 2013–2026 · Updated October 2026
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Quick answer
Dawn O’Porter has published eight key books: the Guernsey novels Paper Aeroplanes (2013), Goose (2014) and Honeybee (2024), the adult novels The Cows (2017), So Lucky (2019) and Cat Lady (2022), and the memoirs Life in Pieces (2020) and Hungry Eyes (2026). Start with The Cows, her first adult novel; the list below shows where each book fits.
Where to Start with Dawn O’Porter
If you want her defining novel
→ The Cows (2017) — three women, one viral moment, her first adult book.
If you want the Guernsey friendship books
→ Paper Aeroplanes (2013) — then Goose and Honeybee.
If you want her own voice, not a character’s
→ Life in Pieces (2020) — the 2020 lockdown diary.
If you want her newest book
→ Hungry Eyes (2026) — a 2026 memoir about food, family and ambition.
8 Dawn O’Porter Books, in Order
Paper Aeroplanes
Her first novel, set on Guernsey, where she grew up: two teenage girls, Renée and Flo, become close friends while dealing with family trouble, sex and school. It was shortlisted for the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize.
Goose
The sequel to Paper Aeroplanes, following Renée and Flo through their last year at school on Guernsey, as the pressures of growing up start to pull the friendship in different directions.
The Cows
Her first adult novel follows three very different women, Tara, Cam and Stella. When one private moment makes Tara an online sensation, their lives collide, and the book becomes an argument about how women are judged for their bodies, their sex lives and whether they have children. It was a Sunday Times bestseller.
So Lucky
Three women whose lives look enviable from outside: Beth, a 36-year-old new mother running her own business; Ruby; and Lauren, a model and influencer. Their stories cross, and the novel sets what each of them posts and performs against what is actually happening at home.
Life in Pieces
A memoir built from the diary she kept during the first months of lockdown in Los Angeles, arranged as short themed pieces: parenting two young sons, grief after the death of her close friend Caroline Flack in February 2020, cooking, therapy, drinking too much and quitting Twitter. She called it an “accidental memoir”.
Cat Lady
Mia plays every role expected of her, wife to Tristan and stepmother, while privately wanting a life on her own terms. A shocking event forces her to choose between living for a society quick to judge and living for herself; the book is a comic novel about independence and finding your people.
Honeybee
A return to Renée and Flo, now in their early twenties on Guernsey in 2001. Renée is chasing a career she feels an imposter in; Flo is hiding something she is ashamed of. Over one hot summer of work, sex and love, the friendship is tested and remade.
Hungry Eyes
Her second memoir, published in June 2026, looks at her life through food: the meals she cooks for her family, the pressure to “bring something to the table”, and her realisation that the fulfilment she chased through glamour and success was waiting at her own kitchen table.
In What Order to Read Dawn O’Porter
Only one strand needs to be read in order: Paper Aeroplanes, Goose and Honeybee follow Renée and Flo from their teens to their early twenties on Guernsey. The first two were published for teenagers; Honeybee is written for adults, but it lands harder if you know the girls first.
The adult novels, The Cows, So Lucky and Cat Lady, stand alone and can be read in any order, though publication order shows her moving from three-voice ensembles to one woman’s story. The two memoirs, Life in Pieces and Hungry Eyes, can be read at any point.
A reading path
1. The Cows (2017)
2. So Lucky (2019)
3. Life in Pieces (2020)
4. Cat Lady (2022)
5. Paper Aeroplanes (2013), then Honeybee (2024)
Everything Else Dawn O’Porter Published
Beyond the 8 key books: 1 more, grouped by kind.
Open a group with the + to see every book in it.
Early non-fiction
1
1 book · 2006
- 2006Diaries of an Internet Loverher first book, about meeting people online
The years · 1979–2026
Quick facts about Dawn O’Porter
- Known for
- Frank, funny fiction and memoir about women’s bodies, friendship and the judgement women face, after a first career making television documentaries.
- 1979
- Born in Alexandria, Scotland; raised on Guernsey
- 2007
- Super Slim Me on BBC Three
- 2017
- The Cows
- 2026
- Memoir Hungry Eyes
- Born
- 23 January 1979, Alexandria, West Dunbartonshire; raised on Guernsey
- Trained
- Acting at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts
- Television
- Super Slim Me (2007), Extreme Wife (2008), This Old Thing (2014)
- Married
- The actor Chris O’Dowd, in 2012; two sons
- Publisher
- HarperCollins, for her adult books
- Charity
- A founding member of Help Refugees, now Choose Love
The red mark is 2017: The Cows, her first novel for adults.
How Dawn O’Porter Writes: Saying the Unsaid Out Loud
Her novels start from the documentary maker’s instinct for a subject people are embarrassed to talk about. The Cows is about a woman whose most private moment goes viral and a woman who does not want children; So Lucky about sex, skin conditions and the gap between a feed and a marriage; Cat Lady about the labels given to a woman who steps out of the family script. The awkward detail is put on the page, not hinted at.
Structurally she likes several voices at once. The Cows and So Lucky each run three women’s stories in alternating sections until they collide, so each character is seen both from inside and as the others judge her. The tone is comic and quick, with short chapters and a lot of dialogue, but the plots turn on grief, illness and shame.
Her non-fiction works the same way in her own voice. Life in Pieces began as notes on her phone and then a blog in the first weeks of lockdown, and she has said she “swore I would never write any sort of memoir”. Friendship between women, from Renée and Flo on Guernsey to the women in her adult novels, is the steady thread through all of it.
Frequently asked questions about Dawn O’Porter’s books
How many books has Dawn O’Porter written?
Nine books under her name. Eight are the key books on this page, from Paper Aeroplanes (2013) to Hungry Eyes (2026); the other is her first book, Diaries of an Internet Lover (2006), published as Dawn Porter.
What are Dawn O’Porter’s books in order?
Paper Aeroplanes (2013), Goose (2014), The Cows (2017), So Lucky (2019), Life in Pieces (2020), Cat Lady (2022), Honeybee (2024) and Hungry Eyes (2026).
What is the best Dawn O’Porter book to start with?
The Cows. It is her first adult novel and the book her reputation as a novelist rests on. If you would rather start with her own voice, read the memoir Life in Pieces.
What is Dawn O’Porter’s most famous book?
The Cows (2017), a Sunday Times bestseller about three women whose lives collide after one of them goes viral online.
In what order should I read Paper Aeroplanes, Goose and Honeybee?
In that order. Paper Aeroplanes (2013) and Goose (2014) follow Renée and Flo as teenagers on Guernsey; Honeybee (2024) returns to them in their early twenties, in 2001.
Is Dawn O’Porter also a TV presenter?
Yes, that was her first career. She made documentaries including Super Slim Me (2007), about crash dieting to a size zero, Extreme Wife (2008), which covered polygamy and mail-order brides, and My Breasts Could Kill Me (2009), about breast cancer, and presented This Old Thing (2014), about vintage clothing, on Channel 4.
Why did Dawn Porter change her name to Dawn O’Porter?
She married the Irish actor Chris O’Dowd in 2012 and changed her name to Dawn O’Porter. Her first book, Diaries of an Internet Lover (2006), was published as Dawn Porter.
What is Life in Pieces about?
Her first months of lockdown in Los Angeles in 2020, written as diary entries and arranged as themed pieces: parenting, grief after the death of her friend Caroline Flack, cooking, therapy and quitting Twitter.
What is Dawn O’Porter’s newest book?
Hungry Eyes: A Memoir of Appetite, Ambition and the Odd Bag of Wotsits for Dinner, published in June 2026. It tells her life through food and family meals.
Footnotes
- Dawn O’Porter — Wikipedia
- Dawn O’Porter — Waterstones
- O’Porter lifts lid on lockdown life for HarperCollins — The Bookseller
- Dawn O’Porter talks lockdown, grief and Life in Pieces — Marie Claire, 2020
- So Lucky review — Funny Women, 2019
- Hungry Eyes — Book-ish
Bibliography last verified 9 October 2026. Where sources give different first-publication years, this page uses the year in library catalogues or the publisher’s own record.
This list was not put together by a machine.
The notes are all mine,
and the books are all his.
Lisanne x
Written by Lisanne Swart, who has curated reading lists and author guides at lisanneswart.com since 2021.
See more on her personal bookshelf.
“I swore I would never write any sort of memoir.”
— Dawn O’Porter, interview with Marie Claire about Life in Pieces (2020)
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