I grew up in rural England with big dreams of becoming a novelist. So, armed with a history degree from York University, I went to work in the London fashion industry. Passing through JFK Airport one day (for my job), I fell in love with an American professor. Reader, I married him. And became a midwestern marketing director with a secret: I was writing a novel. When my husband was offered a distinguished professorship at the University of North Carolina, we moved to the southern forest, where I became a woodland gardener and a stay-at-home mother. I carved out time to write, but it wasn't until our young son developed OCD that I found my passion: creating characters who chip away at stereotypes of mental illness. Now I write award-winning, emotionally-layered bookclub fiction about families in crisis, complicated relationships, and crazy critters … topped off with a healthy dollop of hope.