[5] She is the daughter of David Dunant, a former Welsh airline steward who later became a manager at British Airways,[6] and his French wife Estelle, who grew up in Bangalore, India.
[6] She worked at BBC Radio 4 for two years in London,[5] producing its then arts magazine programme Kaleidoscope,[6] before travelling again, this time overland through North, Central and South America, a trip that became research material for her first solo novel Snow Storms in a Hot Climate (1988), a thriller about the early cocaine trade in Colombia.
[8] Dunant started writing in her late twenties, first with a friend, with whom she produced two political thrillers and a five-part BBC1 drama series – Thin Air, starring Kate Hardie, Nicky Henson and Clive Merrison, broadcast in 1988 – before going solo.
What unites the two is her decision to use avowedly popular forms, characterised by compelling storytelling, as a way to explore serious subject matter and reach large audiences.
[citation needed] In the 1990s, she wrote a trilogy around a British female private eye called Hannah Wolfe, spotlighting issues such as surrogacy, cosmetic surgery, animal rights, and violence to women.
The commercial success of these books in America and elsewhere[11][12] allowed Dunant to devote herself full-time to writing and research, concentrating on the most current work being done in Renaissance studies, most particularly concerning the lives of women.