Susan Gale

Hi, I'm Susan Gale, the author of A Change in Fashion. Like Holly, the central character in my novel, I grew up in the Sixties in North Yorkshire and later worked in France. Let me say that not everything that happens to Holly happened to me, but I have drawn very much on my background to create the atmosphere and sense of period in my story.

I went to school in Guisborough, a small market town at the foot of the moors, and then read French at the University of Leicester. During the Sixties I often went to France - visiting Paris, the Rivera, Normandy and Provence (settings that appear in my novel) and worked in 1966-7 in Lyons.

Of course France, like Britain, was very different in the Sixties from how it is today, and I have tried to convey this in my book. The Sixties were a very exciting time with many exhilarating changes in all aspects of life,a decade of optimism, when it was great to be young.

My interest in fashion goes back to when I was a teenager. Like most girls, I used to make my own clothes, copying trends set by designers like Mary Quant and Biba, since we didn't like or couldn't afford the fashions that were in the shops.

Today I live with my husband in the country near Hamburg. Since retiring from teaching English, I have been able to donate my time to writing - except of course when I am looking after my two little grandchildren, walking my Labrador dog or working in my garden.

You can find out more about me by vising my website www.susan-gale.com or on Facebook.