ABOUT THE AUTHOR
I spent most of my childhood in Cleveland and North Yorkshire, where my father was a vicar. Many of my fiction ideas come from the rich sources of history and mythology, still very much alive in that area. I have three grown up children and am now a doting grandmother, living in Whitby with my architect husband Tom and my funny cat Jezza.
As a child I loved drawing, painting and dancing and it was only as an adult that I began to write and illustrate stories first for my children, but eventually for myself.
The first children’s story that I had published was THE WATER CAT. The story was inspired by my memories of Carlin How and Skinningrove - two industrial, seaside villages that I grew up in during the 1950’s, along with some of the local legends.
The beautiful Victorian and Edwardian photographs of Frank Meadow Sutcliffe inspired my first Young Adult historical novel THE FLITHER PICKERS, which was followed by THE HERRING GIRLS. Since then I’ve spent a great deal of time researching historical themes. Occasionally this has taken me far from home, as with my Young Adult novels THE MOON RIDERS and VOYAGE OF THE SNAKE LADY, for which I visited Hisarlik in modern Turkey, once thought to be Troy.
LOST IN THE DARK AGES
More recently I’ve become fascinated by the Anglo-Saxon period and have spent time researching this era and published historical novels for all ages.
My interest in the Dark Ages was hugely boosted by Archaeologist Steve Sherlock’s discovery of a mysterious Saxon Princess burial with gold and garnet jewellery, on the cliffs near Loftus, close to where I lived as a young child. The finds from Steve’s digs are now part of an exciting exhibition in Kirkleatham Museum near Redcar. The important discovery of the Staffordshire Hoard - made by Terry Herbert with his metal detector, encouraged me further and widened my initial interest in the ancient Kingdom of Northumbria, to take in the Anglo-Saxon history of Mercia and eventually East Anglia too.
MOVING ON
I’ve recently re-published THE WATER CAT and IRONSTONE VALLEY – both suitable for 7 – 11 year olds. Another new novel suitable for Young Adults upwards is DARK FORTUNE, which has a time period and setting close to my heart, depicting the harsh world of Victorian Whitby Jet workers.
A great historical fiction website
Click here to find out more about my past work.
