Originally born in Edinburgh, I grew up in the North West of England, went to the universities of Manchester and Oxford, specialising in 17th-century Spanish comic drama. Although I started out as a translator, I escaped via a strange route of journalism and educational publishing to expand my interests to include botanical history, science fiction, local history, architecture, cookery, medieval art and avoiding DIY.I returned to writing when my daughter Lauren left home to study the History of Art at Edinburgh university and I’m now the author of several novels and stories. Half my books are historical fiction, while the rest are fantasy adventures. One title, Half Life, is a co-production with my husband, Rob Deeth, a newly-retired (although you wouldn’t know it) professor of inorganic computational chemistry and flying buff.
After a visit to Montenegro, I decided to venture into fantasy, and came up with The Legends of Liria, a six-part fantasy series. Set in a dramatic mountainous country, it tells of how two young performance artists use their physical skills and native wit to rescue their homeland from a ruthless invader.
Part one is Cloud Pearl. Click on the tab on the home page to get a peek of the prologue and chapter one. It was also inspired by my daughter's passion for aerial skills - silks, trapeze, cerceau and so forth - all learned at the Dream Factory, Warwick.
Currently, I am working on The Blackfern Conspiracy, an action-packed sequel to The Lost Orchid, as well as a dark murder mystery called Machiavelli’s Acolyte, set in 17th-century Eastern Europe, introducing the death-magnet, Viktor Radislav. Of course, that’s not his real name.
