A dual U.S./U.K. citizen, Mary J Thurlow was born in California in 1970. Her parents moved the family to Connecticut when she was a child. An imaginative and bright student, she was well known for her creative writing throughout her education.
She worked for the Connecticut Post after majoring in English literature at the University of Connecticut, publishing under her maiden name: Collins. Her early twenties were challenging, having been seriously injured in a car accident. A victim of the lack of health insurance due to the freelance nature of newspaper reporting, Mary pursued a career as an English teacher, enrolling at Quinnipiac University for the Master of Arts in Teaching. She also enrolled at Wesleyan University to study poetry writing. She taught at Westshore Middle School in Milford, CT; Betsy Ross Middle School in New Haven, CT; Ansonia Public Schools, CT; and Grossmont High School in La Mesa, CA.
In 1997, she married an Englishman, Nick Thurlow, whom she had met as an undergraduate at UConn. They lived in New York City, where she attended Writer’s Bootcamp and wrote her first screenplay: A Woman Among Men. The couple moved to Battersea, London, and while pregnant, Mary co-authored a comedic screenplay: Cainmanistan. In 1999, she followed her husband’s career to Harare, Zimbabwe. After a spell in Africa, the young family returned to London, where a second son was born in 2001.
Nick exited banking in 2002, precipitating a move to California, where he began a career in the film industry. The following year, the couple’s third son was born. A devoted mother, Mary supported Montessori education and her children’s sports teams. Upset by politics, she joined the Fallbrook Democratic Club, where she began taking on leadership positions in the California Democratic Party and the San Diego County Democratic Party. During her husband's film career (and supported by her mother nearby), Mary continued to write, including the screenplays: To Dwell in Zim, Cop Out, and Misanthrope.
Her oldest son’s conditional offer to Eton College prompted the family to return to England, where the three children were enrolled at Lambrook School in Berkshire. The boys continued to Eton and Wellington Colleges, respectively, and eventually all became university graduates. During this time, Mary re-educated herself in England. She attended the Faber Academy, earned a certificate in higher education and a diploma from Oxford University, a bachelor’s degree from the University for the Creative Arts, and a master’s from the University of Kent – all in Creative Writing.
At Oxford, she began the historical fiction THE ADORATION OF SIMONETTA, inspired by the Renaissance artist Alessandro Botticelli. This ten-year project involved extensive research and art lessons. While rewriting, Mary joined the Richmond Writers' Circle, a century-old writers' workshop.
Writing poetry remained a constant throughout. Unhappy about the political climate of Brexit and Covid-19, Mary’s poetry became laced with current events, resulting in a chapbook titled Quite Contrary: Poems in a UK Election Year. She’d also compiled selected poems into a collection: After the Rain: Poetry of Life, Love, Heartbreak, Motherhood, and Death.
In 2024, Mary and the family pets followed Nick to Dubai, where she worked on the second novel she’d begun at the University of Kent. The stay in Dubai lasted a year, with the couple relocating back to the UK in 2025.
THE ADORATION OF SIMONETTA began as a passion project – a way of indulging her imagination through art, literature, and history. A decade-long project started at Oxford University, Mary frequently travelled to Florence, Italy, for research.
Her second novel, AT THE SHORE OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY, is in its final stages.
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