Anne-Louise Mathie

I was born in Birmingham, UK, brought up mainly in Kent and went to London University to study English Literature, firstly at Westfield College where I graduated for my B.A. Hons and then to Queen Mary College for my M,,A. in 20th century English literature, specializing in the poetry of Yeats. I have always loved the language and country of France and went there to work in the summer holidays from sixth form through university. Afterwards I lived in Grenoble and Marseille. After teaching English at South Essex Sixth Form College, my husband and I moved to the South of France and Algeria, and worked in Muslim communities there. On teaching in Manchester, and bringing up our four children there, we worked for many years in the Jewish community. I am ordained in the Church of England, worked in the Yemeni community in Salford, and then moved to Bristol , where I am a chaplain for older people in the South West of England. We now have ten grandchildren. We still love France, go there frequently and also love Algeria and Russia, where we have travelled. You will see there the settings for my books! I first started writing about Les Landes when we had a mobile home near Mimizan and we cycled through the forest - in a slightly more comfortably way than Marie did in No Traveller Returns. I love meeting people from different cultures and I love engaging in passionate discussion about politics and religion - you will see the evidence of that in my book! I firmly believe we need to engage in discussion with those who hold different beliefs to ourselves and to learn how to respect them.