About Me

I grew up in the Yorkshire Dales, and can’t remember a time when I wasn’t writing stories. I loved reading, too, and when I was ten my favourite books were the seven Narnia stories by C.S. Lewis. When I’d finished them I was desperate to read more – so I got an old blue notebook and started writing my own Narnia book. I think this was the moment I decided I wanted to be an author when I grew up.

When I was thirteen I wrote some short stories about magic, called ‘Mixed Magic’. My father typed them for me (it was long before word processors and computers) and sent them to an agent, who wrote back that, though they weren’t good enough to published, I should keep writing. I did! By now my favourite books were fantasies by Alan Garner, Ursula le Guin and JRR Tolkien; and historical novels by Rosemary Sutcliff and Henry Treece. (Perhaps that’s why, so far, all my books have been fantasies set in the past…)

I studied English at university, got a job, got married, had children and went to live in France and then in America. During this time I was almost too busy to write – so I began visiting libraries and schools, telling stories aloud. This turned out to be excellent practice for being an author! At last I moved back to England and began writing the stories that turned into the Troll Trilogy, 'Troll Fell', 'Troll Mill' - and 'Troll Blood' (HarperCollins) which was recommended in the ‘Top 160 Books for Boys’ compiled by the School Library Association. So far 'Troll Fell' has been published in nine languages. My latest book is ‘Dark Angels’ (HarperCollins, May 2009).

Luckily, writing's not all about sitting at home in front of a computer. The background research for my books can be very exciting. I’ve visited wolves, crawled down mines, clambered over old castles – and to find out about Viking ships for ‘Troll Blood’ I went to Denmark and spent a week sailing on a reconstructed Viking Age ship on a Danish fjord. It was the best holiday ever! [Click on the picture of the Viking ship to see more photos.]