Joanna Maitland started writing for her two children when they were small, and progressed to writing adult fiction, mainly historical. She finds the research absorbing and has become a part-time history student at the local university. Her short stories have been published under various pseudonyms in literary and women's magazines. In her spare time Joanna enjoys reading, music, gardening, needlework, and walking, especially in countryside that reminds her of her native Scotland. Mary Brendan was always a keen reader of historical romance, especially the Regency period. She also writes gritty sagas under a different pseudonym. She was born in north London, lived for a while in Suffolk, and is now back closer to her roots and her adult sons in a village in Hertfordshire. When time permits, she relaxes by browsing junk shops, or by researching family history.