I’ve always been fascinated by history and machines, as well as reading and writing. My local library let me borrow books from the “grown-up” area long before I turned 16, as I was forever in and out with stacks of books.

Even as a girl, I read nearly everything I could get my hands on, at home and at school: histories of Ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome, Medieval England through to WW2; the Nancy Drew mysteries, Asterix, even Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series. I discovered Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series as a teenager, and have loved them ever since.

The first story I remember writing at junior school was historical fiction – all about time travelling to Ancient Egypt. I think I surprised my teachers with that one! Like many writers, I’ve a lifetime’s worth of unfinished and unpublished stories sitting on my computer. 

Although I’ve always liked cars, I discovered a new love when I started work in aerospace: aircraft. That coincided with my awakening interest in the Cold War, a period of time I grew up through but had previously never really thought about. Now much of my non-fiction library is Cold War related – the aircraft, the technology, the places and the people. 

I practice what the Japanese call tsundoku; I buy books far faster than I can read them.

I work part time as an aerospace engineer. I’d love people to understand how STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) underpins so much of modern life – and how engineering is, in many ways, the other side of the creative coin from art. Engineering is so much more than the “hard hats and hi-vis in a factory” image the media often portray.

I juggle paid work and writing with family life. My husband is also an engineer, and our son can already correctly identify a Vulcan, Concorde, TSR2, and the Lancaster, as well as many different makes of lorry. 

My debut novel Banshee, a Cold War thriller, is published by Resolute Books.