The daughter of a Welsh coalminer, Elizabeth Cottrell won a scholarship to Cambridge and has a Ph.D. in History. Her first job was teaching in Staffordshire where she married a local farmer, gaining experience reflected in this book. She then pursued a career in research, writing on industry, finance and education. A regular broadcaster, she became a panellist on Radio 4’s Any Questions. Such expressions of personal opinion had to stop when Elizabeth became a Special Adviser in the Departments of Culture, Employment, Education and Agriculture. In this role she once took a serious risk in a meeting, saying to Mrs Thatcher, “You are wrong, Prime Minister.” She got away with it! A short story prize in the London Writers’ Competition encouraged Elizabeth to write fiction. This is her first novel. A widow, Elizabeth lives in her native Wrexham with her daughter Alexandra.

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