Blog

I love cats and have done since I was little. When I was about 13-14, school dinner ladies were on strike and I used to take a packed lunch to my friend’s house as she lived really close to school and I didn’t. One summer’s day, as we approached a countryside lane...

Fibromyalgia is a non-progressive chronic pain condition and it’s believed one in twenty people might be affected by it. That’s huge! So it’s perhaps surprising that, until seven years ago, I’d never heard of it. Nicola, a new friend of mine, had recently been...

Mistletoe Gardens is a Victorian era park in the otherwise built-up Folkhornton, a fictional little town in South Wales, where The Gingerbread House in Mistletoe Gardens is set, and the story revolves around local baker Essie teaming up with builder Joss to build a...

Waldenmere, 1921 Waldenmere was a glorious expanse of silver water twinkling in the September sunshine. I’d usually stop for a few moments to savour the view, but that day was different. That day, a shocking event had disturbed the placid market town of Walden. “Why...

The Trail was inspired by my agent Emily Glenister wanting to read a speculative thriller set in the Appalachian Mountains. I had to Google exactly where they were, and became enthralled by the Appalachian Trail (the AT) that runs from Georgia in the south, up to...

Everyone loves a wedding don’t they? That’s the thought that ran through my mind when trying to decide how best my heroine, Alexi Ellis, could bring much needed attention and trade to Hopgood Hall, the luxury boutique hotel in which she was a minority shareholder. A...

Son of Mercia begins our journey with young Icel, the boy who wants to become a healer, but is left with little choice but to take up his seax. This is the story of how he begins to become the warrior we all know he will be one day, as Mercia becomes threatened by...

If you’ve read a few of my books, you will know that I don’t very often venture into the Saxon lands on the north-west coast of England. There’s a very good reason for this. I am, quite frankly, a bit scared to do so, mainly because I don’t feel as though I can get a...

By Christmas 1941 rationing and shortages of everything meant that Christmas was going to be very different to the ones they used to have before the war. Packaging was no longer permitted so any gifts that could be found in the shops that were suitable for children...