Jessica writes for and about music, dividing her time between fiction, stage works and journalism. She contributes to the i, the Sunday Times, the Evening Standard, BBC Music Magazine and the JC, among others, and was classical music correspondent for The Independent from 2004 to 2016.

As a librettist she has written numerous texts for choral works and operas for the composer Roxanna Panufnik, including Silver Birch, commissioned by Garsington Opera and shortlisted for an International Opera Award in 2018. Her libretti for two works for Garsington Youth Opera are based on stories by Oscar Wilde: The Happy Princess with composer Paul Fincham (2019) and The Selfish Giant with John Barber, premiered in summer 2021 and going to its co-commissioner, Opera North, in 2022. She is author of several books including Gabriel Fauré for Phaidon (2000).