Helen Salter was brought up in South London and attended school in Croydon at a posh all girls establishment in a Hogwart’s-esque building with creaky oak staircase and, by popular myth, a ghost.

As a child, Helen read all the books in the children’s section of the Norbury library (at which point they gave her an adult library ticket on the quiet). She was forever churning out books‚ which she typed, illustrated and inflicted on her friends. These are now safely hidden in her loft. At 10 years old she decided to turn professional and wrote to Bantam Books asking to write for their Sweet Valley High series, but oddly they never got back to her.

To fund her French and Italian degree at Manchester University, Helen did random jobs from selling aerial photographs door-to-door in the Chicago suburbs to working as a Tour Manager for The American Council for International Studies. The latter job involved leading groups of about 40 American students around France, Italy and England and spending a lot of time standing at the front of a coach with a microphone. Since graduating she has worked for a software company, her current job with the firm means she spends 4 days a month in their Dutch office.

When Helen has time, in addition to working and writing, she enjoys anything arty, e.g. painting, stained glass etc. She first began writing 3 years ago but was interrupted by the need to remove the bright pink woodchip wallpaper from every surface in her first house, a tiny terraced house which Helen shares with 2 cats and a housemate.

Find out more about Helen and her books at www.helensalter.co.uk