The climbing tree I grew up with was a giant lucerne. It provided as much delight for our family as that fictional ‘faraway’ tree. One of my favourite childhood books was The Magic Faraway tree, by Enid Blyton. It actually belonged to my sister. Who could not
Read more →We writers are often rather introverted people. How cruel that after we write our books in our quiet little nests, we have to expose ourselves to the big wide world. Oh dear, giving talks and speaking on radio etc will always terrify me, no matter how
Read more →A HOUSE BY THE THAMES In 1996 my husband Rob and I bought a holiday house on an 18th century estate called Harleyford, by the banks of the River Thames in Buckinghamshire. For the next fifteen years we divided our time between England and Australia. Originally we
Read more →DEATH BY THE RIVER THAMES Walkers along the Thames Path should take a break at the village of Cumnor, otherwise reached by car via the A420 from Oxford. In the 14th century the monks of Abingdon Abbey built Cumnor Hall, scene of a mysterious death in the
Read more →Blood On My Boots was one of the titles I considered for my book on the Thames Path. I love social history , especially murder mysteries, and many bodies have ended up in the river. The book was eventually published as All Along the River;
Read more →LITERARY AGENT ANGST In 2011 I completed a narrative non-fiction book on a controversial, 19th century criminal case. The events in The Water Doctor’s Daughters take place in France and England, and as an opening gambit I aim high and email a query letter to one of
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