Diana Mercury

Diana Mercury was born on a tropical island to a poor farm girl from Kansas and a handsome Navy pilot. She grew up in Santa Barbara, a tomboy, hunting lizards and polliwogs, riding bikes and horses, swimming in rivers and body surfing in the ocean. She was a dreamy child, a loner, always making up stories and drawing pictures. She lost her mother when she was fifteen and left childhood behind. She traveled throughout the United States and other countries, from Canada and Mexico to Europe and down through South America. But her favorite place has always been California, with all its diversity— and her stories and paintings are often inspired by the sensual beauty of the land. She studied music, dance, and art, and worked as a waitress, a photographer’s model, an English tutor, and a belly dancer. In college she took courses in architecture and interior design and later started a remodeling construction business with her husband. She became passionate about old houses and began to buy and restore them. She turned to writing as a full time career after the death of her husband. She now lives on a hill near San Francisco in an old hunting cabin.