Amanda Lees

Amanda was born in Hong Kong and survived both a convent boarding school and a Jesuit boys' school before being summarily ejected from the latter. She is the author of the bestselling satirical novels SELLING OUT and SECRET ADMIRER (both published by Pan) which have both received critical acclaim and have been translated into several languages.

She gets her thirst for adventure from her parents who met in the jungle in Borneo where her mother had set up a hospital and her father, a former Gurkha officer and Oxford-educated linguist, was probably up to no good.

Her parents decamped to Hong Kong where her father established a business importing his two great loves - champagne and whisky. Sadly, he died when Amanda was three before she could get to know him better although she's pretty sure they would have shared the same sense of humour...

Her redoubtable Glaswegian-born mother ensured that Amanda not only travelled the world before she was ten but also passed on her great love of different people and cultures. Amanda speaks four languages and is currently learning Bulgarian.