I write novels set during the Regency period: Jane Austen-inspired novels, and Regency romances. The time period 1800-1820 has always been a period that fascinated me, ever since I first read the novels of Georgette Heyer and Jane Austen.There is something unique about that period, whether it is the see-through muslin of the ladies, the betting books in the gentlemen's clubs, dangerous carriage races to Brighton, or daring widows that walked the edge of scandal. With the shadow of the guillotine and Napoleon hanging over them, the young people of the Regency were determined to enjoy their lives to the full. It was the last fling before the stolid and constricting values of the Victorian era tightened like a corset around them. 

And of course, there is no better writer to go to if you want to learn about the Regency than Jane Austen. My love affair with Pride and Prejudice started when we read the novel at school. I was captivated by the glint of laughter in her writing, by the sharpness of her social observation, and above all by her characters. Every one of the characters in Pride and Prejudice is drawn with an expert brush that must be the envy of so many writers. And to think that she had no writing manuals, no critique groups, and not even many novels to help her out! We tend to forget that she was a pioneer. She struck out on her own, and she never knew how well she really succeeded!

But back to the 21st century. Before I started to write, as a literature professor, I enjoyed teaching students to love reading. But after years of postponing the urge, I finally realized that what I really, really wanted to do was to write. So I've done it, for better or for worse! Now I enjoy writing books for people to read.

I am based in London, UK, and in my former life as a student and professor I wandered the USA. I lived in Illinois, Los Angeles, Seattle, Texas, Colorado, Oregon and Boston.