Flett began her career as a staff writer for
i-D Magazine in 1985. This was followed by a period as features editor and fashion editor of
The Face (1987–1989), three years as a freelancer, and then editor of
Arena magazine from 1992 to 1995. In 1995, at the age of 31, Flett joined
The Observer as associate editor of the magazine
Observer Life, later becoming a features writer and TV critic on the newspaper. In 1997, Flett's husband of 17 months left her and as the couple were going through a divorce, Flett found an outlet for her grief by writing about the break-up week-by-week in her
Observer newspaper column. She published a book about the relationship,
The Heart-shaped Bullet (), in 1999. The book was often savagely reviewed, including an infamous stinker in her own paper by psychologist
Oliver James; Flett then wrote about this experience in
Elle magazine. Since 2004, Flett has starred in the
BBC TV's
Grumpy Old Women series and, in 2008, was a judge on
Channel 4's
Miss Naked Beauty. Her first novel,
Separate Lives, was published in 2012 by
Quercus Books. Her latest book,
Outstanding, was published in 2016 by Quercus. Flett was given an honorary M.Litt by the
University of Brighton in 2015. In April 2016, Flett began writing a fortnightly restaurant review column in
The Daily Telegraph. ==References==