Biography

I was born in Queensland, Australia, more years ago than I care to divulge.

I grew up (mostly) in Ipswich, though my family spent a couple of years in Penang, Malaysia. High school years were in Ipswich.

As long as I can remember, I’ve been a reader. And ever since encountering, at the age of about six, a photograph of Enid Blyton, seated at her desk in an English country house, dogs at her feet, probably engaged on rattling out another Famous Five adventure, I decided that that was the life. I wanted to be a writer.

I achieved it after taking the long way round of working as an advertising copywriter, a publicity officer and a pre-school teacher; studying ancient history, journalism and art history; and writing and producing for television. As technology changed I also wrote and produced multimedia.

Along the way I got married, had two children (both now grown up) and travelled whenever and wherever I could.

I now live in Brisbane with my husband and son (our daughter is married, also a writer, and she and her husband have produced a delightful daughter and son). There’s also six or seven (it’s hard to tell, they all look alike) free-loading scrub turkeys that peck at the back door for handouts.

I write full time, and do my best thinking while swimming laps in the backyard pool.