Edith Birde is the pen name for two sisters who have been writing together since their early teenage years.
Their debut novel, Because I Killed Him, drew inspiration from travels across Europe, an interest in history,
architecture, technology, political theory, philosophy, foreign languages, and the Jazz Age. They live in South Africa.
Frequently Asked Questions
The Nine Gentlemen will be a five-book series.
Given that Because I Killed Him is a longer novel, we knew early on that pursuing traditional publishing would likely require significant word count reductions. Those kinds of cuts would have changed the story’s structure and limited our ability to develop the later books planned for the series. Rather than compromise the narrative, we chose not to query literary agents and instead moved forward with self-publishing from the beginning. Our hope is that if readers connect with the story and it continues to grow, there may one day be opportunities for traditional publishing to revisit the book on its own terms, length and all.
We chose to publish under a pen name for a few reasons. First, given that we have husbands and children, we value a clear boundary between our private and professional lives. Second, we are both deeply introverted, and our creativity thrives in seclusion. There’s a freedom in anonymity that allows us to write more honestly and boldly. But more than anything, we’ve always been drawn to the idea of letting the work stand apart from us. Without a face attached, the story belongs entirely to the reader. It becomes something more personal and hopefully more immersive.
If you’d like to know who we are, you’ll find us in the pages. We very much exist there.
For the time being, we have decided not to participate in interviews or public appearances. We chose to write under a pen name because we are both mothers with young children, and protecting our families’ privacy is deeply important to us. We would like to do our best to ensure that their lives remain as unaffected as possible by any public attention our books may receive.
Beyond that, when we began writing Because I Killed Him, we were drawn to the idea of publishing anonymously. There is something special to us about allowing the story to belong entirely to readers. We want readers to step into this world, connect with its characters, and immerse themselves fully without our voices shaping or influencing that experience. In many ways, we feel we are already saying everything we wish to say through Because I Killed Him and the books that will follow in the series.
We hope you understand and respect our decision. Please know that we are endlessly grateful for every reader who has joined us on this journey. While we are not participating in public appearances at this time, we absolutely love connecting with readers on Instagram, and for now, that is the space where we are happiest interacting.
Our designer is an extremely talented, hard-working artist named Kostis Pavlou. He designed our book cover, book interior, profile picture, and various images for our website. You can find Kostis’s Instagram at the link here.