I was an actress before I was a writer but I sometimes wonder whether all those years playing different characters, understanding how plots work, was just preparation for when I began to create my own stories. When I started out working in theatre, I played the part of Linda in Blood Brothers and every night when we would receive a standing ovation, I experienced the tremendous power of storytelling. In some ways I try to recreate whatever it was that made the audience feel they connected with the characters and their struggles and triumphs, in every book I write. Like many people in Liverpool, my family originally came from Ireland. So many stories were passed down to me. One strange example of memory is this. My father used to tell me a story about a man drowning in sugar when we would pass under the Tate and Lyle shute on the Dock Road. I retell it in one of my books, Angel Of Liverpool, and in the acknowledgements I wrote that I never knew if the story was true or if my dad made it up (my dad died when I was young). After the book came out a family member sent me an old newspaper article and I learned it was not only true, it was my aunt's uncle who had drowned in the sugar. For me that is why sagas are so important. To commit to the page people's memories and how difficult life so often was for our mothers and grandmothers but how resilient they were. Also, I love to write a big sweeping romantic arc in my books. Romance always gives us hope.