Isabelle Goddard

Isabelle was born into an army family and most of her childhood was spent moving from place to place, school to school, including periods of living abroad in Egypt and Germany. Some schools she loved, some she hated, so it wasn't too surprising that she left halfway through the sixth form with "A" Levels unfinished. She became a secretary, as all good girls did at the time, and realized almost immediately that the role of handmaiden simply wasn't for her. Escape beckoned when she landed a job with an airline. She was determined to see as much of the rest of the world as possible, and working as cabin crew, she met some very interesting people and enjoyed some great experiences—riding in the foothills of the Andes, walking by the shores of Lake Victoria, flying pilgrims from Kandahar to Mecca. The arrival of marriage and children meant a more settled life in the south of England, where she's lived ever since. It also gave her the opportunity to go back to "school" and eventually gain a PhD. For many years she taught English at a number of universities and loved every minute of it. What could be better than spending one's life reading and talking about books? Well, writing them, perhaps. Writing was an idea Isabelle enjoyed thinking about, but there never seemed time to do more than dabble with the occasional short story. And she was always aware of a critical voice in her head telling her not to bother! But gradually the voice started growing fainter and at the same time the idea that she might actually write a whole book began to take hold. She'd always felt an affinity with the nineteenth century and grew up reading Georgette Heyer, so when she finally plucked up the courage to begin writing herself, the novels had to be Regency romances. She was amazed and delighted to learn just before Christmas 2009 that her first book had been accepted for publication. Its title is Reprobate Lord, Runaway Lady and it is due to be published January 2011. Since then Isabelle has been concentrating most of her energies on writing, and several more novels are now in the pipeline. She is getting immense pleasure from creating new worlds and sharing them with readers.