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Any | My sister and I were brought up in Wimbledon, in a house with a turret overlooking the tennis courts, which was used for the film Seance on a Wet Afternoon. I was fascinated to read the details when it came up for sale recently, and wrote about it here: 'For Sale: 41 Marryat Road' Writing was in our blood. Our mother had published two novels before we were born (A Ghost Walks on the Water as Barbara Laub, and Gentle Rain as Barbara Gordon-Cumming). My sister is now the novelist Katie Fforde. |
I went to Wimbledon High School, and read Classics at Bedford College, London, but I spent a lot of my time there writing and performing humorous sketches incorporating scurrilous gossip about our lecturers. My mother and I moved to Eynsham in Oxfordshire, where I became fascinated by the local history of the area. I was delighted to have my first short story, Be Serious Week, published in Woman’s Own.
After that I began to have stories published regularly, but inspired by our move to Oxford, I also returned to academic study. I took a Diploma in European Archaeology, and began a D.Phil thesis on the landscape history of Oxfordshire. This was when I met my husband, Edwin Osborn, and we got engaged within about three weeks. Edwin and I set up our own A level revision organisation, 'Oxford Easter Courses', which we ran at St. Hilda's College for thirteen years.
The time came when I realised I just didn’t have enough creative energy to write my thesis and write fiction, and the choice was going to have to be made. I plumped for fiction. I finished the children’s book I was writing, The Wolversey Triangle, and then embarked on a novel, A Proper Family Christmas.
| Katie introduced me to The Romantic Novelists' Association, and through them I heard that Transita were looking for books featuring older heroines. I tentatively sent them the first few chapters of A Proper Family Christmas, and they loved it, but I then had to race to write the rest of the book so they could publish it in time for Christmas. Naturally a very slow writer, I’ve never worked so hard in my life, but I managed to meet the deadline. It was a very proud moment when the book came out! My friend Alison Hoblyn and I had a joint book signing at the famous Blackwell’s bookshop. | Any old |
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Any old | Edwin and I have been working as volunteers for Oxford Archaeology, in particular analysing local Iron Age pottery designs as part of the report on their excavation at Wittenham Clumps. We have a canal boat, Worcester, which has been successfully converted to diesel-electric drive. I sing in two choirs: a small group of female voices, and the Summertown Choral Society. |