Marianne Power: Help Me! | Mat Smith Photography

Marianne Power, author of Help Me, peeping over her book, portrait by Mat Smith Photography, Homerton

The summer hols are here, and what better way to spend time relaxing and reflecting than by a pool with a good read. My usual go-tos are dark, edgy novels - think author Ian Macabre, (sorry, McEwan).

Not so for Marianne Power, who set herself the task to read a new self help book each month for an entire year, following their advice to the letter, in a quest to change her life, hopefully, for the better.

Marianne Power, author, black and white portrait by Mat Smith Photography, East London

Picador are set to publish Help Me in Hard back, e-book and audio in September 2018, and we were invited to take some publicity shots of Marianne in East London.

Marianne Power, author, laughing by rainbow fencing, portrait by Mat Smith Photography, Homerton

We had fun wandering around Marianne's neighbourhood of Homerton, popping into some of the local cafes that were favorite haunts of hers whilst penning her journey of self help.

Marianne Power, author, smiling outside a cafe, portrait by Mat Smith Photography, Homerton

Marianne Power, author, writing in her go-to cafe, portrait by Mat Smith Photography, Homerton — Marianne's "go-to" cafe to write about her journey

As Help Me is out after the hols, forgive me if I stick to grizzly fiction whilst enjoying the unusually glorious English summer - I promise to break from my usual genre to dive into a year of self help with Marianne once her book is out this September.

Marianne Power, author of Help Me, against a London stock brick wall, portrait by Mat Smith Photography, Homerton

The Bookseller article interviewing Marianne Power, with her portrait — An article in The Bookseller

All photographs on this blog are Copyright Mat Smith Photography 2026 unless otherwise indicated.

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