About the Author
I live in Dorset now but, in my youth, I was lucky enough to spend over eight years living in Auckland, New Zealand. When I went there most intercontinental passengers travelled by ship, not aeroplane! It’s a beautiful country and I had a great time growing up there in my teenage years. Indeed, I still have many relatives living there.
When I returned to England I read History at the University of Reading before embarking on a career in secondary school teaching. For the most part, I taught history which certainly provided me with an insight into what people find interesting – useful knowledge for a fiction writer!
Though I enjoyed teaching, writing was always my first love. I wrote my first book before I was 17. Fortunately, it was never published because it was complete rubbish. Since a full-time teaching career left little time for writing and I had to content myself with other creative outlets. I spent many hours stage managing outdoor Shakespeare plays – often in the ruins of Reading Abbey, but also at the Cliveden Festival and, most notably in 1977, for the Silver Jubilee performance of Henry VIII at St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle.
For as long as I can remember I’ve read historical fiction starting with Robin Hood, King Arthur, and Alexandre Dumas’ Three Musketeers. More recently, my own favourite author has been Bernard Cornwell and I suppose his work has influenced my humble efforts more than any other.
Apart from writing, I enjoy travelling and I spend my spare time gardening, walking and reading. For a number of years I took part in a long term archaeological dig at a Roman villa site in south Oxfordshire. That fascinating experience added a new dimension to my understanding of how people lived in the past.
It was daunting when I finally took the plunge and started writing and researching my first book. In every way it was a very steep learning curve and it took me several years to finish my debut book, Feud, which became the first of the long-running Wars of the Roses series.
Though my early books were all set in the Wars of the Roses period, with the Last of the Romans series I ventured into post-Roman Britain – a fascinating and largely unknown time.
2024 was an eventful year for me for many reasons. In publishing, I finished three very different books. In the summer, I published the first book of a new series of historical action thrillers set during the twelfth century in what is termed the Anarchy. That is Rebel Sword and not long after it came out I released a book of a different genre. Eyes Like Blades is still an action thriller but it is a crime story set in modern times. Female protagonist who is in your face. Think Eleanor Elder, only more so…
Early in 2025, readers will be able to get their hands on a non-fiction history book I’ve written for Pen and Sword publishers: A Guide to the Wars of the Roses. This book arose from my podcasts on the Wars of the Roses which were originally intended to help readers navigate the period in which my early books were set. The aim of the book is to simplify and explain what is often regarded as a very complicated period. Since history had always been important to me, I am keen to give the reader as accurate a picture as I can of the periods about which I write.
I now co-host with historian, Sharon Bennett Connolly, the Slice of Medieval Podcast series which is a fusion of history and historical fiction. So far, we have welcomed over thirty historians and novelists as our guests.
Credit: Roving Eye Photography
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