About me
I haven’t been writing books for very long. My first book, Montmorency, came out in the UK 2003. Montmorency on the Rocks was published in 2004, and Montmorency and the Assassins in May 2005. The fourth book, Montmorency’s Revenge is published in May 2006 If you live in another country, Montmorency may be arriving a little more slowly. America, France, and Spain are about a year behind, but if you want to keep up with he story, you can always order the newest books from Britain!
I grew up in Camberwell in South London, half-way up a hill which had my primary school at the top, and my secondary school at the bottom. I had hardly ever been outside London when I left to go to Oxford University, where I studied history. After that I joined the BBC, working on TV and Radio programmes from 1975 to 1990. By that time I had two children, and soon there was a third. At one point they were all under three and a half years old, so I was very busy. I left my job to look after them, and got involved in all sorts of things I hadn’t had time for when I was working. You might be able to see how some of those things have crept into the books. I’ve been on the Clinical Ethics Committee at Great Ormond Street Hospital for some years now. I found lots of ideas for Doctor Farcett’s character there.
By 2002 I was back studying history again – this time at the University of London. The place I work there has its own website. If you are interested, take a look at: www.livesandletters.ac.uk
See if you can spot me. I hide under another name there!
I am a patron of the Prince of Wales Arts and Kids Foundation, which aims to give every child in Britain first hand experience of the arts. See www.artsandkids.org.uk
I am also a trustee of the biggest arts prize in Britain: the Gulbenkian Prize for Museums and Galleries. You can find out more about that on www.thegulbenkianprize.org.uk
And I am a trustee of the charity, Listening Books, which lends audio books to people who, for whatever reason, can't handle conventional print. See www.listening-books.org.uk
How the Montmorency Books came about
Montmorency was born in my children’s bedroom. I used to make up stories for them at bedtime. There were all sorts of tales, and I told and retold them night after night, adding bits, and changing them as I went. There were two particular favourites:
The Amelia stories, about a girl who lived in a block of flats just like the one I’d grown up in,
And
Manhole by Orlando Weeks
So
I did lots of research about how the sewers worked, and what Victorian London was like.
I had heaps of notes.
But then we moved house. And we moved again. And somewhere in a box those notes are still sitting, waiting to be discovered.
When I finally decided to write the books I had to start all over again.
But I did it, and Montmorency found a publisher – just as I was committing myself to my university work.
I didn’t have the courage to give up either the work or the studying, just in case one went wrong – so now I am working very hard, doing two jobs. But I am having a lot of fun, and Montmorency is taking me across the World. I went on my second tour of America in April –visiting Texas, California, Chicago and New York.
I have had some wonderful letters from readers, and some splendid gifts, too. The children from Holland Park School in Essex let me have a huge banner they made, featuring a life-size man, half Montmorency and half Scarper, made from real clothes. It hangs over our stairs at home:
Eleanor with Montmorency banner made by the Holland Park pupils 
A brilliant
art student called Orlando Weeks has also sent me some pictures inspired by Montmorency. Here’s his image of
Montmorency and Scarper together: