Susan Edmunds is a New Zealand writer of contemporary fiction and nonfiction. She is best known for the Mummy Needs series and the novel All She Ever Wanted (2025). She also works as a journalist.
Susan Edmunds completed a degree in medieval history. She works from home as a business journalist. Her work focuses on finance and property. Edmunds once noted the contrast between her training and career, saying she failed maths at school but now writes about finance.
Edmunds balances journalism with family life. She has described combining work and childcare during interviews. She recalled completing an interview while breastfeeding and managing two children. She often writes about family life with humour. In 2019, she wrote that, despite exhaustion, she would never trade her life for one with children. She said, “I’d never trade my kid-life for the old one.”
Her first book, Mummy Needs a Break, was published in 2019. It focuses on early motherhood and the pressure of work. This was followed by Mummy Needs Help (2020), which explores sleep loss and online support groups for new parents. Both books draw on her experiences as a working mother.
In 2025, she published All She Ever Wanted (2025). The novel follows two sisters as they face pregnancy, marital strain, and change. It centres on family bonds and adjustment. Edmunds later expanded her fiction beyond motherhood.
Her most recent novel is What’s the Worst That Could Happen (2026). The book follows Ariana, a marketing worker facing career limits and family pressure. Ariana joins a reality dating show after a breakup. The plan is practical rather than romantic. Events spiral when producers shape her public image. She is cast as the series' villain. The novel explores public image, media pressure, and control. It also examines choice after failure.
Alongside fiction, Edmunds has written nonfiction. Her work From Renter to Owner focuses on buying a first home. She has also written a children’s book, Milly’s Nose.
Susan Edmunds lives with her husband, two children, one dog, and three cats.
Photo credit: susanedmunds.com
