IN WHATEVER SOCIETY WE LIVE, stories are an essential part of growing up and helping us to become members of our community. The very first contact a child has with storytelling is often the bed time story. In the safety and warmth of their bed, their imagination can be stirred; the seeds sewn, showing the child what wonders are to be found in a book.

It is through stories that children learn about values and roles, about good and evil, about fun and silliness, about happiness and sadness – about life and death. It is through stories that children can make sense of a confused world and learn to overcome the obstacles they will inevitably meet.

I haven’t written a novel since ‘The Robber Baron’s Daughter’, published in 2009/10 though I am working on one now. But in the meantime, my love of the short story, fairytale, myth and legend has given me plenty to write about and contribute to.