I was born in Salisbury, England in 1941. After the war, when I was five years old, we moved to New Zealand and settled in Auckland. We lived in a very old villa in Epsom with spacious grounds and large well established trees. As my only brother was six years younger than I was he was not old enough to be a companion and so I turned to books. After reading all the Enid Blyton books I could get my hands on I began on the children’s classics and at ten was introduced to Dickens by my teacher.

From an early age I loved writing stories and English was my favourite subject. I left school with University Entrance but rather than go to university decided to train as a primary teacher. However, after three years of teaching young children I wanted to be able to focus on my favourite subject, English so went full-time to Auckland University and obtained an MA in English. By then I was 27 and decided it was time I went to England for a two year ‘working holiday’ as we called it then. I didn’t mind what kind of job I took; it was all grist for the mill. I stayed in Bristol where most of my relatives lived and after a few temporary teaching posts took a job for a year in a comprehensive school. This was my first experience of secondary teaching and was a baptism of fire. The senior classes were simply sitting out the time until they left school and my challenge was to spark their interest in literature. The Head of Department had given me license to teach what I wanted. ‘You’re the professional’ he said. With this kind of freedom I had a wonderful opportunity to introduce my classes to all the literature I loved. I also found they enjoyed writing stories and reading them out loud. This too was dear to my heart, so we rubbed along quite well together. All the same, when I returned to New Zealand I was glad enough to go back to primary teaching where the children were less complicated than teenagers. I suppose in the back of my mind I always knew that one day I would write and therefore should take the opportunity to get out and do a variety of jobs and meet all kinds of people. The world of the classroom was very confining. When I had the chance to take a secretarial course in London for a few months I readily applied. The typing and shorthand skills I learned there have been invaluable since especially when computers came into their own. I also had some offbeat experiences and met people of all types which broadened my view of life. Although I eventually returned to full-time teaching my experiences outside the classroom were many and varied: from working in a London record shop, selling skirts in a famous Oxford Street department store, working for a secretarial agency, having a live-in job in a hotel. Returning to New Zealand after a couple of years of such variety and excitement was predictably tame. However, when the opportunity arose to spend a year in Christchurch studying for a Diploma in Journalism I jumped at the chance. On finishing the course I discovered there were few openings for someone like me, overqualified and inexperienced. Besides the salary was much less than I could earn as a teacher and I now had a mortgage to pay on my first house. Back to the classroom I went, but with a good solid training on how to write simply and effectively. I did some freelance writing for a women’s magazine but it wasn’t until I retired that I got down to the task of writing my first novel – after having had a hip operation and being forced to rest for six weeks. Living beside the beach as I do makes it easy to write as seagulls and the odd dog walker are my only distractions. What else occupies my time? Friends of course, and my family of cats and chickens. Long walks on the beach replace the time I once spent on the golf course. As a member of my local church I take part in various activities. Nearly every year I spend a few weeks in England, mainly catching up with friends. Most of my time though, is taken up with researching the background of my novels and writing them. I hope to be able to continue for some years to come.