That March, Harper signed a two-book deal with Mulholland Books for the publication of her debut novel The Binding Song, a thriller set at the fictional HMP Halvergate in Norfolk, in 2017.
However, she felt her first two novels, set in the "Norfolk Noir" genre,[8] were too close to her day job, motivating her to go into historical fiction.
Set in ancient Pompeii, the novel follows Amara, a young woman enslaved in the city's Lupanar.
[12] The Wolf's Den debuted at #1 on The Sunday Times paperback fiction list,[13] won the Goldsboro Books Glass Bell Award,[14] and was shortlisted for Page Turner of the Year at the 2022 British Book Awards.
[19] Antonia Senior of The Times called it "one of the best historical fiction trilogies" since Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall.