About Mark
My Story
I’m Mark Lyth — a crime and psychological drama author writing stories set between Liverpool and the Lake District, including the DI Chivers series (Dirty Old Town, Fairleigh Green, The Politician). Alongside my fiction, I work as a life coach and director of a Community Interest Company supporting children and adults in one of the most deprived areas in the UK.
At 41, I earned a First-Class Honours degree in Humanities with Classical Studies from the Open University, while running my own business. A year later I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and had a breakdown that turned my world upside down. I lost my home, my work, and my sense of identity — unwell, unfit for work, and searching for something I could control.
That’s when I turned to fiction. In three years I wrote four novels. Through storytelling I found the first thread of healing. I met my partner, and though I kept searching for someone or something to ‘fix’ me, I eventually realised healing could only come from within.
During the COVID pandemic I trained as a life coach and began running sessions from our community hub. Now I combine lived experience with practical tools to help others take control of their mental health and rediscover their power. I live in Port Sunlight, Wirral, with my partner and our three children.
More than stories
Everything I do — writing fiction, coaching clients, running our community projects — is about helping people feel seen, heard and human again, not defined by any diagnosis.
I know what it’s like to lose everything and start from scratch. That experience shapes every word I write and every person I support. I don’t believe in quick fixes or perfect endings; I believe in messy, honest stories — the ones where healing isn’t linear, but possible. My mission is simple: to remind people they’re not broken. They’re just human.
— Mark Lyth
“I write to make sense of the mess, to turn pain into something that speaks back with grace. Every story is a way of saying I was here.”
Mark R Lyth
