Ali was born in Cheltenham in Gloucestershire and has been a resident of Torquay in Devon for many years. As a child, she was always happiest leaving her landlocked county and travelling to the wide expanse of the north Cornish coast for her annual summer holiday. That love of the ocean never left her, and Ali has been moving slowly south ever since and now feels privileged to call the English Riviera home. From her office window, where she writes, Ali can see a wide horizon of the sea from Berry Head to Thatcher Rock, which is an ever-changing delight and gives her something to stare at when her inspiration is flagging. Ali started her career as an author by researching and writing speeches for top civil servants but, for the last five years, has had the privilege of editing a glossy life-style charity magazine with a readership of 35,000 plus across Devon. Ali is also a published features writer, mostly focusing on people and places, historical figures and events and the natural world. When need demands, she has also been known to turn her hand to cookery writing and crossword compiling! When not writing, Ali and her husband love to travel and she has a particularly special place in her heart for southern Africa.