About Me

I have always written, starting as a young child I wrote stories for the school newspaper.  At University, I wrote to supplement my grant.  When I was first married, I wrote for various magazines and comics.  Then, I started writing for Edward Arnold and Hodder & Stoughton.  The books were always commissioned and I had little say in the subject matter but a freehand in the content.  My Commissioning Editor was Nicolas McDowall - a delightful, thoughtful and talented man who was encouraging and kind.  The only drawback was that he did not want me to write fiction! 'It will distract you from our books which are selling like hot-cakes.'  

He was right about the 'hot-cakes', to this day I still get royalties from those 17 books via ALCS.  But I wish I had not been so easily distracted from the novel I was working on at the time.

Subsequently, I wrote various radio plays on the theme of British history - covering the era of the Norman invasion.  I enjoyed being in the recording studios - though some actors' comments about my writing were not always repeatable!  Sadly, I cannot find any of the recordings from the BBC nor from Chicago radio who broadcast 'There are no Indians left but me.' 

The GLAA - Greater London Arts Council gave me several commissions for stage plays and performances.  I always found these a delight to work on with directors and actors.  But performances always made me nervous.

Then academia became my world and writing was subsumed into journal articles and endless lecture notes.  However, whilst researching at the British Library, a story landed on my lap that was too exciting not to pursue.  And pursue it - I did.  I went to Northern Portugal interviewed several people.  Returned to London and continued the research.  One evening returning home, I became aware someone was following me - but I took no notice.  Next day a note was pushed through our front door.  It informed me that the school my children attended was known - as was the places where I worked.  The advice was 'not to continue with the work on Portugal'.  Since my children were young and vulnerable and there was very serious illness in the family, I discussed the situation and shelved the manuscript.

Four years ago, I moved from London, during the Covid lockdown I explored some of the removal boxes, as yet unpacked.  I discovered the old manuscript of  'The Fisherman Returns'.  Since then, in between writing two other novels - as yet still in manuscript form only, I edited the book and rediscovered Portugal's troubled history.  Editing is now finished and publication?  Do I hear you ask?  Well, there are few publishers accepting submissions at the moment and I have lost contact with my old editors - so we shall see.  As my Welsh Nannan used to say:  'what will be, will be'.

Regardless - I shall be putting extracts from 'The Fisherman Returns' and 'Dodgy Dogs & Bent Bookies' on this website.  Also, a friend has agreed to read extracts in the Podcast section.

Please enjoy either reading or listening.  Let me know what you think.