I grew up in Scotland where weekends were spent building dens in the woods, jumping into icy rivers, hiding in tree houses and running wild across highland glens. School came as a bit of a surprise (lots of ‘being inside’ and ‘listening’) but English lessons were great. I loved stories – reading them, writing them, listening to them – and it was back then that I discovered worlds behind wardrobes, teachers called Trunchbull and shape-shifting daemons…

I got through school, despite being branded as ‘unteachable’ and ‘prone to spasmodic outbursts of silliness’ by my headteacher, and after an English degree at Bristol University and several years as an English teacher in Africa, Berkshire and London, I am now back to hiding in tree houses and building dens – sometimes in real life, mostly in my books.

When I’m not writing, I travel the world looking for my next story (I’ve lived with the Kazakh Eagle Hunters in Mongolia and dog-sledded in the Arctic), work as a volunteer for a reading charity called Beanstalk, and as a patron for the brilliant Grimm & Co, campaign hard for Authors4Oceans and remember the good old days when I used to dress up as a unicorn.