Back in 2010, the British Guardian newspaper published a selection of angry letters from readers complaining about the increasing use of what they called ‘American slang’ in its articles. As one of them wrote…

Back in 2010 or so, having finally finished my first book (nonfiction about my family history in Australia) and knowing traditional publishers would be unlikely to take it on, I decided to self-publish it…

Although the original thought is “Youth is wasted on the young,” in my case, this was certainly true for education. I went to an all-girls private boarding school in rural Sussex in England, which even then – back in the late 50s/early 60s – was old-fashioned…

My annus horribilis began some time ago, right at the beginning of the year when I told my husband of 28 years that I wanted to separate. It was not a sudden decision on my part, but what surprised me, amazed me, was that it came as a total shock to my…

When it came to researching my family history, I was lucky. My aunt had done much of the groundwork for me. She spent her retirement years travelling between Australia and England investigating our ancestry going back to the 16th century…

Some years ago, at the age of 61, I quit my job, rented out my flat and flew to Australia to research my family history. It was not an easy business. In the days before Airbnb and other similar organisations made letting so much more flexible…