Harris was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and spent her early childhood there before her parents moved in 1965 to Glasgow, Scotland. On leaving school she studied English Literature and Drama at the University of Glasgow, then trained as an actress at the East 15 Acting School in London.

After years of trying different careers she worked abroad, variously as a dishwasher, a waitress, a chambermaid and an English language teacher. She began writing short stories during this period, while confined to bed in Portugal with a bout of flu.

On her return to Glasgow she began to achieve recognition for her writing and had short stories published in anthologies of new Scottish literature. In the early 1990s she was a regular panelist on STV's Scottish Books programme.

She went on to study an MA in Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia under Malcolm Bradbury. After gaining a distinction in her degree she completed a PhD at the same university.

After UAE came a two-year stint as the Arts Council Writer-in-Residence at HMP Durham (1992-4). Following this Harris worked as a script and novel reader for film companies and for The Literary Consultancy, and as a script editor. She also taught Creative Writing for many years, principally at the University of East Anglia.

Harris lives in East London and is married to the film and TV director Tom Shankland.

The Observations was acclaimed for the playful and compelling voice of its narrator, Bessy Buckley, and for its humorous treatment of dark themes.

Harris's work is also notable for dealing with obsession and characters on the edge of society. Other common issues in her work centre on family, immigration, exile, national identity, (particularly Scottish and Irish), crime, prostitution, madness, poverty, sexuality, gender roles and hypocrisy.

Her short stories have received a number of prizes including the Penguin/Observer Newspaper Short Story Award, 1993. She was awarded an Arts Council Writer's grant in 2000.

Harris has been published in a wide variety of anthologies and literary magazines including New Writing 3, edited by Andrew Motion and Candice Rodd, and in several volumes of New Writing Scotland.

Harris has written a number of award-winning short films, culminating in 2000 when Bait (funded by Film Four) was BAFTA nominated. The film won the Kodak Award and Best Short at the Newport Film Festival in the US.

In 2001, Going Down (funded by Working Title) was also nominated for a BAFTA and won prizes for Best Drama at the BBC Short Film Festival, Best Short at the Angers Film Festival and was runner-up in the Turner Classic Movie Awards.

Harris was shortlisted in 1999 and 2000 for the BBC's Dennis Potter Awards.

Harris's acclaimed debut, set in Scotland in 1863, is narrated by the lively, sharp Bessy Buckley, who leaves Glasgow and happens into a job as a maid at Castle Haivers.

Arabella, her mistress, encourages Bessy to write her thoughts and experiences in a journal. She also subjects Bessy to odd experiments, but Bessy goes along with them because she is flattered by the attention and quickly grows attached to her mistress.

Things change when Bessy snoops in Arabella's locked desk and discovers the book Arabella has been writing, The Observations, a study of the "habits and nature of the Domestic Class."

Bessy is incensed to read criticisms of herself in the account, and also learns of Arabella's affection for one of her predecessors, a girl who died under mysterious circumstances.

Bessy concocts a revenge that ends up having consequences far more lasting than she ever envisioned

The Observations is published in the UK by Faber and Faber and in the USA by Penguin. Since its release in the UK and USA it has been published in the Netherlands, Italy, Denmark, Greece, Spain, Germany, Norway and Poland. It is due to be published in France, Portugal, Sweden, Israel, Serbia and Montenegro, Brazil, Romania and Croatia. An audiobook version is available, narrated by the author. There is also a Danish audiobook version.

The Observations was adapted by Chris Dolan and dramatised on BBC Radio 4 Woman's Hour in April 2007.