Where do you get your ideas?

I am inspired by life: everything around me, everything I see, hear and dream about. It fascinates me how one tiny co-incidence or discovery can be the spark that turns into a full-length published novel.

Are your books sequels?

No, each of my novels is separate, although I want the story to continue in your mind long after you’ve turned the last page. There are themes running through my books: ordinary people put in dangerous situations, where they do extra-ordinary things. The upheaval of war was ripe with incredible experiences that people like you and I lived through. Every family has a tale to tell…

How did you start writing?

I can’t remember never wanting to write. When I was young, I would staple pieces of paper together to make books and scribble my stories in them. I’d spend hours in the library, tracing the authors from A to Z. To me, they were fabled and talented people whose name appeared on the spines of books full of mystery, intrigue and delight. I began to tap out my own books (pretty dreadful ones it must be said) on a manual typewriter through my teens and early twenties and went through a hard-knock apprenticeship of rewriting, rejection and perseverance.

After many manuscripts destined for the recycling bin, I realised which story I needed to write: the war-time adventures of my Great Auntie Ginge. She was something of a legend in our family, and her story became A Season of Leaves.

When do you write?

I am lucky that I have been able to give up my ‘proper’ job, so I get up – the earlier the better – switch on my lap top (and not the TV or radio or internet), make a huge cup of tea and start tapping. I find it so much easier to type-write, as opposed to hand-write, as I can get it all down before I forget it (which is prone to happen!) I do have fine collection of notebooks full of scribbles and word doodles, however and the coming together of these fractured ideas, images and scenarios, I hope, in a clear and realistic way becomes the finished novel.