Twenty-One Locks

Laura Barton (born 1977 in Lancashire, England) is an English journalist, feature writer, and novelist known for her work with The Guardian, where she contributed music columns like "Hail, Hail, Rock and Roll" and women's issues pieces. Her debut novel, Twenty-One Locks (2010), received a Betty Trask Award, and she has published non-fiction works including West of West: Travels along the edge of America (2020) and the forthcoming memoir Sad Songs (2025); she also contributes to BBC Radio 4 with series on music and stories.