HISTORICAL NOVELIST

My career as a historical novelist began when I was working as a history teacher at a secondary school and searching for something to teach my Year 9 class. A colleague of mine told me about a littleknown event from the Second World War, and the research was so absorbing I found I couldn’t stop thinking about what I had learned. I decided to fictionalise the story and my debut novel, The Silent Hours, was born.

Since then I have written three novels that all focus on littleknown tragedies that occurred during the 20th century – attempting to bring these events to life through the people who might have lived through them. I also write romantic comedies under my pseudonym, Rosie Blake. Historical novels involve a lot of research, which can be fascinating but time- consuming. It is also important not to lecture the reader or start to throw in interesting but ultimately irrelevant details. It’s a fine line.

Reading history at university taught me research skills, but also means I’m always tempted to spend my time reading books and not writing my own! I work in my writing shed at home and, so far, it has been an incredibly satisfying career, which works well alongside looking after my three young children. I adore attending book events, starting a new project and hearing from readers. The writing community is friendly and supportive, and I consider myself very fortunate to be part of this wonderful world.

“Having read history at university, I’m tempted to spend my time reading books and not writing my own!”