I was born in 1957, went to Camden School For Girls and then to the Polytechnic of Central London to study Arabic and Russian. I worked in publishing, first as a sales rep to bookshops, then in publicity and editorial for the feminist press Pandora. I had my first child, Eleanor in 1989 and as is the case so often for women, motherhood fired my ambition. I left publishing to pursue my dream of being a writer (it’s not easy to believe you can when your own mother is one too), took a part time job as fiction editor for Cosmopolitan Magazine and began to write pieces for newspapers. I became books editor for YOU magazine at the Mail on Sunday in 1996. My second child, Grace was born in 1993 and I have been very happily married to the same man since 1988, although as with every other couple we have had our ups and downs.

I have written 7 books – two are novels, five are non-fiction. You will find more information about them on the links below. All of them are concerned in some way with exposing the inner workings of family life. With LIFE AFTER BIRTH, THE TERRIBLE TEENS and my new book COUPLES, I have spent years synthesising the academic literature for the intelligent general reader. These truths are combined with interviews with a wide range of people who have been honest about the highs and lows with the protection of anonymity. These are not handbooks or ‘how to’ books. They place our experiences of family life within a wider historical and sociological context and seek to reassure, for the band of ‘normal’ is wide. They have been recommended by specialists working with parents of troubled adolescents and by word of mouth from mother to mother.

I will be at the Ham and High literary festival in London on Tuesday 21st September at 11am http://www.hamhighlitfest.com and at the Henley Literary Festival on Friday the 1st of October at 3pm with Maureen Waller, author of The English Marriage www.henleyliteraryfestival.co.uk.