Janet MacLeod Trotter was born in Newcastle and grew up in Durham. She has been editor of the Clan MacLeod magazine, a columnist on the Newcastle Journal and has had numerous short stories published in women's magazines, as well as a novel for teenagers. Her first novel, THE HUNGRY HILLS, gained her a place on the shortlist of The Sunday Times' Young Writers' Award. She lives in Northumberland with her husband and their two young children.