She has written extensively for newspapers including The Guardian and the Los Angeles Times.
She is the author of seven books, including biographies of the British music hall star Marie Lloyd and the pioneer woman aviator Amy Johnson.
Nicholas Lezard reviewed The Barbed-Wire University in The Guardian, calling it "a moving and eye-opening account of the lives of second world war [sic] PoWs by the daughter of a man who was captured.
She was Royal Literary Fund Fellow at Magdalene College, Cambridge For three years, and is currently Academic Director for Creative Writing at the University of Cambridge Institute of Continuing Education.
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