Thompson was born and raised in the London Borough of Havering (Hornchurch, Upminster), England. After leaving school at age 16, she worked in insurance for a couple of years. In 1991, she joined the BBC, eventually becoming a radio broadcast assistant. She left the BBC in 2002 and later became a freelance radio broadcast assistant with an independent production company. At age 43, Thompson debuted her first book.</p>
Thompson's debut novel, The Goldfish Boy, was published by Scholastic in 2017. A review in Kirkus wrote that the book "strikes the perfect balance, seemingly without compromise, between an issue-driven novel and one with broad, commercial appeal." The Goldfish Boy was a national bestseller and was shortlisted for the Waterstones Children's Book Prize.</p>
The following year, Thompson published The Light Jar. The book was described in The Guardian as a "a thoughtful and hugely empathetic book". It was followed by The Day I Was Erased (2019) and The Boy Who Fooled the World (2020).</p>
Thompson's 2019 novella, Owen and the Soldier, was published by Barrington Stoke and became the first dyslexia-friendly title to be shortlisted for the Blue Peter Book Awards. That same year, Thompson contributed a short story to Return to Wonderland, a collection of new stories set in Lewis Carroll's fictional world.</p>
Thompson lives with her husband Stuart and their two children, Ben and Isobel.
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