About me

Author of five historical novels,  a children’s book, editor of one book of Ghost Stories and a Christmas short story book. The Currency Girls trilogy – is set in Australia and Ranter’s Wharf is set in 19th century England.  My new book, published in 2022, is set  mainly in Sussex  and  Australia.  It  is  a modern day romance  with family  secrets to be discovered.

Despite a serious health, issue in 2010, I was given the gift of retirement to pursue the things that interest me. Having worked all my life in education as a librarian, you might gather I have a passion for books. Over my forty year career, I worked with infants right through to university students and found each age group a delight.

I loved to help students to research and those skills helped me when I decided to begin writing historical novels. I  became a director of Chindi Authors Network which was a great organisation supporting authors in and around Sussex. Unfortunately, we had to close  the Company,  because of the Pandemic. You can still find it on Facebook.

Biography

• Born In Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire, England
• Educated mostly in Lincolnshire, apart from a year in Singapore;
• Attended library school in Birmingham and university in Brighton
• Worked in Lincolnshire, various Midland towns and counties and latterly in Sussex.
• Recently moved to Norfolk after thirty-five years in Sussex.
• Interests reading, of course, family and social history and travelling to new places.

How I came to take up writing.

Following a retirement trip to Australia and knowing a little bit about my husband’s family in Australia, I came back enthused and wanting to find out more. My sister in law asked me to write  down what I discovered. So I began to write; not since my teenage years have I written fiction and then two embarrassing novels, written longhand in the style of Georgette Heyer, which never saw the light of day. Even then I was fascinated by the eighteenth and nineteenth century.

My research led me to voluntary work with the Female Convicts Research Centre, where they allowed me to work through all the female convicts on the ship, Henry, discovering  as much as possible about their backgrounds and how they fared after their arrival in Van Diemen’s Land.  This is important work in understanding the value and skills that these women brought to early Australia. Until recently, their contribution was ignored and derided. In 2015 and 2018 I  attended their seminars in Hobart and was delighted to meet other volunteers.

Having written my first book, I was hooked and began the second immediately. I have completed five novels, a children’s book set in Norfolk, where I now live, edited a ghost tour book of Littlehampton and a book of Christmas stories.