I was born in South Uist in the Scottish Outer Hebrides, the youngest of four children. A rebel, school drop-out, general mis-fit. After a failed marriage and becoming a single parent I realised I had to get my act together. I became a mature student, studying primary education. A chance meeting with the Estonian under sixteen football team led to my falling in love with the country. I packed my eleven year old daughter, two dogs and a cat into my Renault 11 and headed off to teach in a school in Tallinn.
I was now in the international school circuit and opportunities for travel abounded. I couldn't resist! During the next fifteen years we lived in Thailand, Ukraine, Lithuania and Portugal, collecting a variety of stray animals on the way (I can't help it!). I now live on the east coast of Scotland with a Ukrainian Jack Russell type mutt, Portuguese cat and Scottish Black Lab.
Your debut novel To Retribution is a political thriller, what attracted you to writing in this genre?
I've always had a strong interest in politics and it just seems to sneak its way into my writing. I enjoy playing with the possibilities politics opens up, particularly in the slightly dystopian context...what could happen if? Also the experience of having lived in countries with dubious political backgrounds and rife corruption has stayed with me. It gave me first hand experience of political nastiness and the resultant cloud it casts over a country.
