Tania Crosse

Dartmoor historical novelist Tania Crosse was born in London but at a very young age moved to Surrey where her love of the countryside took root. She always enjoyed reading and has composed stories ever since she could hold a pen. After studying French Literature at university, she devoted twenty years to bringing up her three children. But her passion for writing never left her, and side by side with her in-depth research into Victorian social history, she began to pen her novels in earnest as her family grew up. When Tania discovered Morwellham Quay, the restored Victorian copper port and now living history museum in Devon, she fell in love with this magical place and felt a spiritual compulsion to create a story that would illustrate life there in times gone by. This led to the publication by The Garlandstone Press in 2001 of her debut novel, 'Morwellham's Child', which was republished by Pan Books in 2004, and has since appeared in large print and as an audiobook. Her second novel, 'The River Girl', was published in 2006, and is also available in other formats. Tania is continuing to work on her series of novels illustrating the rich history of Tavistock and the surrounding area of Dartmoor from Victorian times onwards. She hates being catagorised as a writer of historical romance. The history comes first, she insists, and the human tales develop from her research. The characters lead harsh, demanding lives and their stories are often cruel and harrowing. 'I tell it like it was,' she says. Tania has been happily married for over thirty years and claims she would never have achieved her success without her husband's support. They live partly in Berkshire and partly at their tiny cottage on Dartmoor where Tania retreats to write and absorb the atmosphere of the places that inspire her.