I am a writer, a practising criminal defence lawyer and a mother of two. I have written a contemporary women's fiction novel called "Swimming Upstream" which is published by Booktrope (December 2013)
My novel tells the story of a young woman, Lizzie, who finds that she is unhappy with her life though she doesn’t know why, as she has achieved everything she had thought she ever wanted. Then she steps out into the path of an oncoming car and her life begins to change direction, setting off a life-changing chain of events. She soon realises that nothing will ever be the same again…
My novel explores broad themes of interest to women such as love, female friendships and divided loyalties – and asks why it is that some people survive life's blows whilst others become "mad, bad or sad”.
The inspiration for the novel came from a painful relationship break-up many years ago when events from my own past came rearing up to haunt me. Little did I know that the worst was yet to come. After I had my first baby in 2002 he was rushed into hospital with epilepsy and it soon became apparent that he was severely disabled, both physically and intellectually. It took a long time to adjust to this and to grieve for the happy, able, healthy child that I had expected, but lost. I have survived some pretty hard times and my friends know me as a happy, extrovert and positive person; but I know others, through my work as a lawyer, who have gone under in one way or another, and it made me wonder why.
My battles in life now centre around juggling writing with my work as a lawyer and raising two children. A lot of people ask how I do it. My answer? I employ a full-time tumble dryer to do the ironing, my house is dirty and my children eat far too many biscuits.
