The Manner of Amy's Death, my first e-published book, re-examines the strange death of Amy Robsart, Robert Dudley's wife, and comes to a startling, but I believe entirely possible, conclusion - one which has hitherto been ignored. It is first and foremost a fictional account of Amy's life (about which very little is known) and sets it against the political background of the time, the disgrace and execution of the Duke of Northumberland (Robert Dudley's father), Mary Tudor's reign and the Wyatt rebellion, Jane and Katherine Grey and the plots surrounding them, Queen Elizabeth I's scandalous relationship with Robert - and finally Amy's death. At the time, 1560, the news was shocking and sensational and could easily have provoked rebellion against the monarch and her unpopular favourite.
I started my working life as a teacher of English, history and geography and even undertook a year's 'finishing school' at a remand home, later termed an 'assessment centre' - an experience which rounded off very nicely my own education for life! My interaction with social services eventually led to the adoption of two older children after which I changed career and became an IT specialist and college lecturer. This, in turn, led to managing a computer network for a large research organisation and finally to being a network administrator for a university where I built one of the first World Wide Web servers in the country in early 1995. I am now retired and live on a farm with my husband, my dog, three horses and a variety of wildlife including a crow called George.
I started writing in retirement, at first for my own pleasure and interest, researching and playing around with themes in which I am most fascinated - horses, history, quantum computing and dystopian worlds. I enjoy reading both fiction and non-fiction in adult and young adult literature around all these diverse topics.
The Manner of Amy's Death is based on carefully researched fact which led me to consider possibilities that readers with an interest in history may find thought provoking and intriguing.