About

Joni Smith is a Manchester-based author whose writing explores grief, love, friendship, healing, and the messy, beautiful ways people save each other without always realising it.

Her debut novel, How You Saved My Life, follows fifteen-year-old Johnny Crayfield as he tries to hold his family together after a devastating loss. Written with raw honesty, humour, heart, and a deep understanding of what it means to survive the unthinkable, the story is for anyone who has ever felt broken, lost, or quietly held together by music, friendship, and unexpected love.

Joni began writing the book in 2021, and what started as a single idea soon became a story about hope, connection, and the people who become lifelines when life falls apart.

When she isn't writing, Joni works in learning and development, creates content online, and can usually be found overthinking a caption, romanticising a sign from the universe, or crying over a song that hits a little too hard.