MARY O'MALLEY

Born Mary Dolling Sanders in Hertfordshire, Mary O'Malley was 24 when she married Owen O'Malley, a young member of the British Diplomatic Service. Together, they travelled the world and lived in numerous countries as part of his work. This greatly aided the budding writer and gave her tales of adventures in far off places the authenticity that most such books lacked. She wrote a considerable number of romantic novels as well as a handful of non-fiction pieces during her writing career, though how she found the time with three children and assisting her soon to be knighted husband in their diplomatic work, is a mystery. Her most famous creation was the young and adventurous Julia Probyn, a character she did not conceive until she was in her 60s.