I have always loved stories. As a child I read as much as possible – on car trips, at the beach, late at night. I didn't like going anywhere without a book, something that has never changed! I grew up in a house filled with books and I read all of them, but my favourites always had an element of fantasy. Oz, Narnia and Middle Earth were places I visited many times. When I had children of my own and reading stories led into writing stories, it was almost inevitable that magic would creep into my own writing.

Before I was a writer, I was a scientist and spent several years studying colour vision at the University of California at Berkeley. It's not as much of a change as it might seem. Both writing and sciences are occupations require imagination, curiosity and a healthy dose of what if...

I am currently writing book three of the Chitten Adventures. The first two adventures, Milly and the Chittens and Chittens in Trouble are available as both print books and ebooks.

I live in Auckland, New Zealand with my husband, three children and an excitable Irish terrier called Finn. I write full-time – when I'm not reading, that is.