I was born in the Rhondda in 1962, but have lived in Cardiff since the mid 1980’s. I lived in a large house on the side of a mountain as a child, which was a lonely, but exciting place to live, and stimulated my imagination. An English teacher noticed and encouraged my writing talent at the age of fourteen. Much later in life, I read Alan Garner, and was totally inspired by his ability to interweave landscape, myth and society. The Rhondda provided the beautiful landscape, and whilst researching the area, I came across a murder case, where the body of a twenty year old women was found in 1862, with her head practically severed from her body, and the verdict was suicide. The reports I found were very factual, and it occurred to me, this lady had a life. In my first novel, Wine from the Emerald Tree, the protagonist is a woman of the same age, in the present day, who is contacted by the ghost of the victim, and embarks on a journey to solve the case. The novel is a comparison of the life of a woman in the 1860’s to a life of a woman today. It is a journey of self discovery, as well as being a murder mystery, romance, social history and psycho geography. My second novel, has a anti racist theme, based around a Rhondda myth, so again is multi-faceted, combining myth, romance, society and landscape. I am currently working on my third novel. Donations from some of my writing profits go to Rhondda Animal aid and Valley Kids. I am a civil servant, who loves animals, and enjoy walking in the country with my husband.
