I’ve worked in the book industry for over 30 years as a bookseller, publisher and writer. In 2005, after an adventure in Morocco while I was researching a novel, I married my Berber husband, quit my job and shipped my possessions to a village in the Anti-Atlas Mountains. But publishing wouldn’t let me go, so 17 years on I still work, remotely, as Fiction Publishing Director for HarperCollins as publisher for (among others) George RR Martin (GAME OF THRONES), Robin Hobb, Mark Lawrence, SK Tremayne and Raymond Feist.

I was responsible for publishing the works of JRR Tolkien during the 1980s and 1990s, commissioning Alan Lee and John Howe to illustrate the books, and worked on Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings movie trilogy, spending many months in New Zealand with cast and crew. I have also written a number of books for children.

My adult novels include THE TENTH GIFT, THE SALT ROAD and THE SULTAN’S WIFE (all historical novels set in Morocco); COURT OF LIONS (Granada), PILLARS OF LIGHT (Syria). THE SEA GATE and THE WHITE HARE [2022] are both set in my native Cornwall.

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