My early dreams were to become a musician - I started playing the piano at four (before I could even reach the pedals), the cello at nine. My worst moment was off-stage, when as a kid, I jumped over a wall carrying my cello and smashed it in half.

In my spare time, I devoured Enid Blyton and was a whiz on the athletics track, largely due to failing to get up on time every morning and having to run to school. By fourteen, I was running the 100 meters faster than all the boys my age. At sixteen, sadly, I had a hip injury which brought my sprinting to an abrupt end.

I loved school - both my parents were teachers (my father is an artist, my mother keen on English and drama) so that was just as well. At 18, I went to music college, but hated it. I felt hemmed in having to practise all the time and the curriculum was too narrow. No one would play tennis with me for fear of damaging their hands…

I transferred to Lancaster University and had a brilliant creative and expansive time, gaining a First in Music. My big moment was playing the Elgar cello concerto in a public concert. I then taught the cello in secondary schools for a while, but my heart wasn’t in it. I performed in duos, quartets and orchestral concerts. I got an MA (distinction) in Music at Reading University and then joined Yehudi Menuhin’s charity, Live Music Now, as an administrator. I shuffled through various admin jobs over the next few years, none of which were really Me.

After working as a volunteer for the Samaritans, I trained to be a Psychotherapist/Counsellor and set up in private practice in London in 1995. It was marvellous. I worked from a clinic in Clapham and from home in Putney with many fascinating people. I had two self-help books published and realised I loved writing. Slimming World magazine commissioned me to write nineteen psychology features between 2004-2008 and I featured as life-coach in Zest and Family Circle. I've also given live BBC TV and radio interviews.

At the end of 2008, I started my first piece of fiction. It was only going to be an exercise of about 2,500 words, but I kept going - I kept wanting to know what happened next! It became my first psychological thriller and from then on I haven’t been able to stop…