About Me

Potted biog

A girl born in a boys’ school; taught (often by my parents) in boys’ schools till I was nearly 12. Then to a girls’ school, where I was two years younger than my peers, who were not at all interested in my tree-climbing and weapon-making excellence. Outsider, excluded. Survived. Went to Cambridge University; studied Classics with Philosophy. Spent a year as a cook before becoming an English teacher. Did a Diploma in Specific Learning Difficulties; became hooked on brains. Really wanted to be a novelist; failed desperately for 21 years; succeeded eventually; had exciting career writing teenage novels, winning and shortlisted for many awards. In 2005, Blame My Brain published; changed my life. Since then, have focused on teenagers, learning brains, stressed brains, reading brains and online brains. Any brains will do!

Lived in Edinburgh for 28 years; now live near Rutland border, in North Northants. Husband, daughters and small grandchildren. Love cooking, reading and gardening. Hate running but do it anyway because I like how it makes me feel (afterwards).

Now returning to fiction, attempting to write a sequel to Fleshmarket, which was published in 2003 and is still, remarkably, in print. I have very little confidence that I can make this work but I’m doing it anyway.

Nothing venture, nothing gain. And nil desperandum. Also carpe diem. Because tempus fugit.

If you want to see me…

Here are three videos to give you an idea of me in my working environment. In the first one I’m being interviewed during lockdown by a 16 year old. In the second I’m being interviewed by my niece, Megan, who was doing some research work for me but then went on to become a full-time researcher in TV production. And in the third, bizarrely, I talk about resilience in the context of football…