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Current Books - 1992 to present (Click
to view) 
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 I'd
enjoyed writing my children's novels and still see them as no 'less', in
literary terms, than my adult novels. But I began to feel the need to
write on a larger scale and to work with more complex plots, so I embarked
on my main work of writing adult novels.
As a historian, my great
inspiration has always been the great sweep of Twentieth-Century history
- well, from 1880 onwards. These times of great change, which continue to
define the world we live in, are endlessly fascinating to me. I see them
as a series of great tapestries into which I weave the intricate,
significant lives and adventures of my characters. The significance of the
First and Second World Wars keep echoing through my novels, as do the
themes of individual enterprise and sometimes quirky endeavour. Each
novel, though, has its own special inspiration, its own special identity,
its own sparking point. With LONG
JOURNEY HOME, it was the personal story of someone who was there at
the liberation of Singapore. With HONESTY'S
DAUGHTER, it was a combination of a tragic tale told me thirty years
ago and a personal fascination with a particular house and its walled
garden.
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from journalism and short stories, my first venture into publishing was in
children's fiction, first for Corgi, then for Hodder & Stoughton. I'd
had my own children and had always worked with children, so this seemed
perfectly natural. I was training teachers at the time and had written a
Children's Literature Module for their degree course which I had loved
putting together. I was eager to write authentic stories which did
not preach, or 'write down' to children. These stories just flowed out and
are still borrowed in English libraries. Interestingly, THE
REAL LIFE OF STUDS MCGUIRE has been on the school curriculum in
Switzerland and in Australia!
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