About Jac — The Storyteller Who Loves Stories

Hi! I’m Jacqueline… but everyone calls me Jac (you can too!).

I was born in a tiny village called Rhu, on the west coast of Scotland, where the sea meets the hills and imagination has plenty of room to grow. I have an identical twin, Lorna, and a younger sister, Lindsay.

When I started school, I found reading really tricky. Letters danced around like they had better things to do! But once I cracked the code… wow! I gobbled up every book I could find. My favourites were George’s Marvellous Medicine and the Nancy Drew mysteries. My Gran also told me the best-ever story about a Teeny-Weeny Lady she’d heard on the radio as a little girl — I’ve never forgotten it.

Growing up, I loved zooming around on my BMX bike, building dens and planning the next one from inside the first and making up stories.

As a child, I was painfully shy and found some schoolwork tough. But at age 10, I came runner-up in a writing competition, and that was the moment I secretly started dreaming of becoming an author.

Because I wanted every child to feel confident and capable, I became a Primary School Teacher. I’ve been teaching for over 25 years, helping children find their voice and their brilliance.

I am naturally curious… some might say nosy…But I prefer curious, and a favourite pastime of mine is people watching. I love to imagine their lives from the snippets of conversation I hear and from the way they move and interact with others. This is where I get a lot of inspiration, as it sends my imagination spiralling into endless possibilities.  My Inspiration is nature and the landscape around me. I love the history, folklore and old magic that surrounds Scotland.  At school, one of my favourite subjects was history. Whenever we go on holiday, I am always looking out for places to go where I can find out more about the people and civilisations who have lived there in the past.  I think that is why I love writing historical novels…with a pinch of magic, just to keep things interesting.