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About the author Ann's books (including how to buy) Historical information - Marceline |
About the author, Ann Nibbs
Biography
Ann Nibbs Ann Nibbs was born in Hereford, England in the
shadow of a cider apple orchard – which probably explains a great deal about
her penchant for Weston’s Old Rosie!
She grew up in Halifax, West Yorkshire and Crosby, Liverpool and wrote her
first short story when she was nine years old. This was also when the
character ‘Marceline’ first appeared – but not in St Petersburg during the
Russian Revolution but in Paris during the French Revolution.
‘She was a strong, feisty young woman even then – and somehow she just
wouldn’t go away. I always knew I had to do her far more justice than a few
pages of a Sylvine exercise book!’
Ann’s love of history was initially inherited from her mother and fostered
by her A Level History teacher. ‘We studied British and European history
1870-1945 and she had the knack of making us really think about the social,
political and economic history of those turbulent times. She made it come
alive – and encouraged us to debate issues and really get into the minds of
some of the key characters of the day. Mrs Cope went beyond the history
books and made you thirsty for more. When we started on the Russian
revolution, I couldn’t get enough of it and that’s when I started my own
collection of books on the subject.’
‘My interest in the story of Sisi started when I first visited the Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna more than 30 years ago. These days, she is frequently compared with Princess Diana and interest in this elusive and mercurial person refuses to go away.’
‘The Elusive Empress’ and ‘Marceline’ are Ann’s two published novels to date, but are by no means the only ones she has written. ‘In common with most aspiring writers, I have drawers full of manuscripts of novels of many different genres – two on a ghostly/supernatural theme, one crime novel, a collection of short stories called ‘The Adventures of Henry the Toad and All His Friends’ which are crying out for a good illustrator, and a novel apparently written by two cats!’
Ann works for the University of Liverpool in the Faculty of Medicine and is ‘married’ to Colin. They divide their time between Liverpool and North Wales, accompanied by a very affectionate and delightfully delinquent tortoiseshell cat called Mimi
