Biography

My first novel The Summerhouse was published in the late 1980s by Century Hutchinson.

Since then, I have continued to write fiction but because of the demands of jobs – a mixture of teaching and research – it is only now I can fully concentrate on getting my more recent work into the public arena, and, hopefully, read!

I continue to love writing fiction and also really enjoy doing the research for the different historical periods I want to use.

I live in London, am fortunate in having family links and a close network of friends here, who, particularly my husband, have encouraged me in the writing.

I am reasonably self-disciplined about setting to work and find the mornings much more productive. I do set myself deadlines. This really works for me as I generally write the whole of a first draft very quickly, without editing. This keeps up the impetus and is the part of the process I find most exciting, fun and energising.

When the draft is finished I edit the work many times until the point at which I am satisfied that it works.

I read all the time, non-fiction as much as fiction, at the moment specifically contemporary English nature writing. Other major interests are film, which I identify with as my own work tends to be cinematic, and opera, for the sheer emotion and dramatic quality as well as the beauty of the sound. I sing, badly but enjoyably – at least for me – in a choir, and am learning Mandarin Chinese.

Having lived in other countries as a child, I still have the travel bug. I also really like to walk – whether urban or countryside – and find it good for thinking and the soul.