I was born and brought up in Birmingham (UK). In my mid teens I suffered from exposure to Tolkien from which I’ve never fully recovered! After leaving school I did a variety of jobs until redundancy threatened, at which point I escaped to university to do the degree I’d always wanted to do and discovered Tolkien’s academic work as well. As a (very) mature student I first acquired a BA in Medieval Studies, then followed it with an MPhil in Anglo-Saxon History. Old English remains a facination and one day - when and if I ever get the time - I'd really love to learn Old Welsh. By this time anything and everything medieval had become a bit of an addiction, as proven by my ever expanding bookcases of reference works (which one day might take over the house) and visits to every castle and ruin I could find. All this, coupled with a life of avid reading of fantasy, spurred me into writing about a fictional world as a way of exploring the ideas about the bits of history which remain obscure, or how things might have turned out differently. Apart from the completed fantasy quartet set in the Islands I am also writing a historical series based on the Robin Hood legend and set very firmly in the late twelfth/early thirteenth centuries. The aim with these coming books is to return the legend to its true setting, but to tell more would be to spoil the fun...! I currently live in Worcester with one husband and several recued lurchers, one of whom shares my photo - which is nothing unusual in my life! I support Evesham Greyhound & Lurcher Rescue.

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