A graduate of Exeter University in the early 1980s, I spent 20 years as a teacher of French, Latin and Classical studies, before a change of career led me to writing children's fiction. Currently residing in Abu Dhabi, I live with my husband and our beautiful Tonkinese cat.
The Shadow of Atlantis is the first in a series of time-travel adventures, featuring 3 children and a rather special cat called Max. I'm now working on the 17th book, The Shadow of the Great Fire. The series also includes several novellas that feature Max the talking Tonkinese cat undertaking solo adventures. As I take my young readers on a magical mystery tour through the past, I'm hoping that my love of history, myth and legend will rub off on them too.
In 1588, a plot to invade England and overthrow Queen Elizabeth the First is about to unfold. At this crucial moment in English history, four visitors from the future arrive in Elizabethan London.
Twins Joe and Jemima Lancelot, together with their friend Charlie and their talking cat Max, embark upon their next journey into the past as they continue the search for their missing parents who are lost somewhere in the mists of time.
Finding themselves at the heart of a web of conspiracy, can the young time-travellers solve the mystery of the Tudor Rose?
Top Ten List:
1. I have lived in Abu Dhabi in the UAE for the past 6 and a half years. The next book in my series (number 18) - The Shadow of the Shifting Sands - is set out here.
2. Although I’m originally from the UK, my permanent home is in France. When we first moved in, we discovered we were sharing the house with a previous occupant – it’s haunted!
3. I became a full-time writer after a career of teaching French, Latin and Classical Studies, but at the age of 5, my dream job was to be Dr Who's assistant (a famous TV show in the UK) - I must have been into time-travel even back then!
4. If I could meet any famous figure from History it would be King Richard III – I’d like to know what really happened to his nephews, the two princes in the Tower.
5. I would dearly love to be able to time-travel. If I could choose just one place to visit, it would be the Ancient Roman city of Pompeii, on the proviso that I could escape before Mount Vesuvius erupted.
6. I love Tonkinese cats. My feline hero, Max (short for Maximus), is a prime specimen of a large lilac male, based on my own cat.
7. I have a genuine phobia of snakes. When I encountered a snake in my living room in France, I think they probably heard my screams in the next valley!
8. I was once involved in a high-speed crash whilst riding a camel in Cairo … and, unfortunately, I had a party of my students with me to witness it, so it was quite embarrassing!
9. I believe in being a lifelong learner. You’re never too old to learn, be it a foreign language or a new skill. I’m a recent convert to kayaking – I never realised how much fun it is. I’m still trying to get to grips with Arabic, though, despite being a linguist. It’s a hard language to master and I can manage a few key phrases, but it hasn’t helped that everyone speaks such brilliant English out here!
10. I love baking. Mince pies at Christmas time are one of my particular specialities, and I even won a pie-making contest for my French Onion Tart a couple of years ago! During the recent lockdown, I seemed to go into baking overdrive - self-isolation has not been good for the waistline!
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