I grew up in Kent, educated at Maidstone Grammar School, from where I won a scholarship to Christ’s College, Cambridge to read English Literature. I graduated with a first class degree in 1981, staying on to work on a PhD on Tennyson and 19th century lyric poetry. Realising I didn’t really want to be an academic I blagged my way into a job using my writing skills. I worked in London agencies for eight years, then turned freelance in 1992. I had young children and wanted to balance my often demanding working life with attention to those children’s needs (and I wanted to see them growing up).