Blog | Tom Gaisford

A Thank You to the Secret Barrister

Many thanks to Cinto Press and Read Media for this graphic. There is a particular terror attached to setting a story in the legal world. It’s called lawyers. Among the guests at our London launch last year were a host of solicitors, barristers, judges and journalists. And while it was lovely to see so many bright, friendly, familiar faces, it did little to assuage my anxiety about Sanctuary. From the outset my chief concern was not how the novel might fare commercially so muc

Aug 52 min read

The Life That Freedom of Movement Gave Us

Ten years after the EU referendum, I’ve written a deeply personal essay for the Spanish cultural magazine Jot Down about what freedom of movement made possible – and what its loss has meant for my family. It traces a journey that began with a childhood visit to Seville, led me to study Spanish literature, live in Andalusia, marry in Vejer de la Frontera, and raise our two daughters in the province of Cádiz. Above all, it’s a reflection on how a legal and political right often

Jul 221 min read

The UK voted Leave - but nobody voted for this mess

🗞️ Full piece (no paywall) reproduced below with the editor's permission👇 So here we stand, outside the EU in a place no one voted for. It’s time for a reality check. Ten years ago by a slender majority, the United Kingdom voted to leave the EU. That vote, however, was meaningless. Nobody knew what outside the EU would come to mean, and without such knowledge there was never a legitimate choice. Some drew the inference that the result was a vote to go anywhere outside t

Jun 283 min read

Giveaway for Refugee Week

Details here: https://substack.com/@tomgaisford/note/p-201595532?utm_source=notes-share-action&r=4e6hpk

Jun 161 min read

L'Ancresse by Tom Gaisford

Here's a link to a short story I wrote about grief and mortality for Time & Tide, the inaugural Guernsey Short Story Anthology

May 11 min read

Another kind review :)

Link to review: https://whatcathyreadnext.co.uk/2026/04/06/book-review-sanctuary-by-tom-gaisford/

Apr 201 min read

Long live the book fairies!

https://ibelieveinbookfairies.com/2026/04/sanctuary-by-tom-gaisford-hidden-around-famous-spots-in-london/

Apr 181 min read

Witch Trial by Harriet Tyce

My review for The Tablet

Feb 281 min read

Brook House

Formerly a UK immigration lawyer, I wrote a story called SANCTUARY. For novelistic purposes, it contained some fantastical details that went beyond the abuses in the system I wanted to document. Then I learnt that actually, a very large amount of it was true... https://tomgaisford.substack.com/p/we-need-to-talk-about-brook-house

Feb 31 min read

V. touched by this thoughtful, generous and entertaining review

https://open.substack.com/pub/tomgaisford/p/lovely-review-of-sanctuary-by-an?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=post%20viewer

Dec 15, 20251 min read

3-2-1 SANCTUARY Launches in Paperback!

Total treat to celebrate the paperback launch of Sanctuary in Good Rebel , the place I wrote the final draft. Huge thanks to owner Steve Hopkins for hosting us and for his generous idea to stick a QR code on ‘my’ table 10, linking to this short piece . Or was it a hint? On reflection, it might be time to let someone else sit there… Equally big thanks to the ridiculously kind broadcaster and journalist Jim Delbridge of BBC Guernsey for interviewing me and for all his sup

Nov 19, 20252 min read

Brief Reflections on Promoting My Little Orange Trojan Horse

Promoting one’s own work is inherently uncomfortable, even for a barrister versed in the art of the humblebrag. But seeing the most unspeakable abuses in my novel play out in real life has made me keener to shout about it. From the undercover exposé of abuse inside Brook House Immigration Removal Centre to the UK’s unlawful Rwanda policy, for years every immigration story that broke seemed to mirror my plot in some way. Each time, I felt obliged to revise my manuscript to ma

Oct 24, 20252 min read