Deryn Lake started to write stories at the age of five, then graduated to novels but destroyed all her early work because, she says, it was hopeless. A chance meeting with one of the Getty family took her to Sutton Place and her first serious novel was born. Deryn was married to a journalist and writer, the late L. F. Lampitt, has two grown-up children, four beautiful and talented grandchildren, and one rather large cat. Deryn has lived near the famous battlefield of 1066 for the past 16 years where she enjoys her life as a woman about town. She is also the author of Fortune's Soldier, Sutton Place, To Sleep No More, The King's Women and Pour The Dark Wine.