Anne Brooke

I grew up on an apple farm in the UK countryside in Essex - which explains why I love apples so much and look forward to the first in the season with great excitement! I think it's influenced me in the sense that I'm aware of the seasons and try to put them in my books too. The rhythms of country life are also very powerful and often echo the cycles of our own lives.

Some of this comes out in my Gathandrian Trilogy novels, as the action moves from summer to autumn and through to winter as the characters journey through all three books. And then at the end there's a hint of spring and the cycle of life beginning all over again. I always like to end with a note of hope.

I first started writing fiction in Y2K, though I'd been writing poetry for a long time before that. I'd had quite a difficult couple of years, both at work and at a personal level, and for a while hadn't been able to write any poetry at all. One day, while I was complaining to my mother, she told me to stop worrying about not being able to rhyme anything and just write fiction instead.

So I did, and I've not looked back since. Mothers can certainly be an inspiration every now and again!