I started out as a medieval writer; someone who knew and loved the medieval period completely and utterly.

I studied History and English at the University of York, UK, and the majority of that ended up being medieval and Early Modern. I revelled in what I learned of the medieval period, and I truly loved learning about the history, the politics, the food, the fashion, the literature, and the language. I knew that the medieval era was something that I really wanted to immerse myself in.

So I continued at the University of York, and I studied my MA in Medieval Studies on a scholarship. There are still times when I really miss academia, and the time I had just enjoying the research and the reading. In fact, I loved it so much that even in my spare time, I ended up thinking about the medieval era – and so I decided to write a book about it.

One book was followed by its sequel, and then I wrote a bridge novella between the two. Soon enough, all three books had been put together in one collected edition, and I was already half way through another series.

And then my publishers gave me a call.

They wanted to commission me to write a Regency novella – specially based around Christmas. Now, I love Jane Austen, and I’ve read a huge number of Regency novels and novellas, but this wasn’t something that I had a huge amount of research knowledge in. Could I really make the transition? It was only about 700 years difference . . .