Why, after 32 successful sagas, did you decide to write a historical novel?

I have always loved history and reading historical novels and have been fascinated, as many have, with Anne Boleyn. Her story is so well known and has been told by so many authors but no one, as far as I 'm aware, has ever written in depth about her love affair with Henry Percy and its aftermath and this intrigued me. I started to research Henry's life and found that from his point of view there was more to this brief love affair than had hitherto been told. THE QUEEN'S PROMISE is more the story of Henry's life than Anne's, although the two are irrevocably intertwined. As the cover says: 'She was the most infamous woman of the age – He was the man who would love her for all of her life.'

Will you continue to write sagas?

Yes of course. My new one, SUNLIGHT ON THE MERSEY, is out now in e-book and will be published In paperback in Autumn 2013, and I'm currently about half way through my next one, set in First World War Liverpool. And I'm researching my new historical, about Anne of Denmark, James I's wife, too!

Have you always been a writer?

No, I was a secretary until I had my children and when they were growing up I worked for a time as a part time Sales Assistant in Marks and Spencer.

When did you start writing?

I wrote my first novel in 1976 after the children went to school. I had always been a great reader, especially of historical novels but had no ambitions to be a writer, It never crossed my mind I could write anything anyone might want to buy. I just happened to read three novels in succession which I thought were badly written and historically inaccurate and I thought (with what I have to say now was great arrogance) 'I can do better than that'. I was astounded when my novel was accepted and published and an 'option on the second' was requested. I'm so very, very fortunate that everything I have written has been published – I've never had a rejection.

How did you cope with a young family and a writing career?

With some difficulty! I worked when the triplets were at school and the chores finished – on the kitchen table on an ancient typewriter, but having been a secretary I was able to think directly onto the typewriter which helped a great deal. Of course during school holidays I could only work of an evening and as the children got older and it became clear that they were all dyslexic they needed far more of my time and attention, particularly with school work , and so I actually gave up writing for about five years to devote more time to them.

Where do you get your ideas from?

Everywhere. The line of a song or poem, a saying, conversations I've heard snatches of, things people have told me, and then I start to think 'What if?'

Do you write every day?

I write six days a week once I have started a book. I usually start at about 10am and work until 4.30pm. I have Saturday off (to do the housework!!). I used to work in the evenings too but found I couldn't sleep as everything was still going on in my head! My husband Bob took over the cooking when he retired, which is great because I was never the greatest cook - if it wasn't tinned, instant or frozen we didn't have it - and he's a fantastic cook! He also does the ironing, (which I hate) which he does watching TV and swears he enjoys – the ironing that is! When the manuscript is finished and has been delivered we usually have two holidays, one in early summer, which is a family holiday – all 12 of us go abroad somewhere sunny. Then Bob and I go away on our own, later in the summer.

Has being a writer changed your life?

In many ways it has. I have been afforded opportunities that I doubt would have come my way otherwise. I have sailed half a dozen times as a Guest Lecturer on QE2, I have been given the chance to travel to promote my books, I have met many famous authors, have been asked to speak at Literary Lunches and Dinners, and of course I have met so many wonderful people at book signings, Library Visits and Charity events. My special charities are The Royal British Legion (Help for Heroes), the R.N.L.I. and the Manx Blind Society. And of course I have made many friends in the world of writing and publishing.

Have any of your children followed in your footsteps?

No, but I never imagined that they would and as yet my grandchildren are too young, but you never know. I was in my thirties before I began to write.