I am Liz Mills - old, but still fully functional. I was born of gentle, loving parents, in Southend-on-Sea in the county of Essex, England, famous for its pier, shingle beaches and seaweed. I now live in the euphemistically named Three Bridges, in West Sussex, with my writer fiancée Douglas.

My childhood was undistinguished. Expelled from posh school, I found my level in the state secondary education system, emerging with just enough basic skills to enable me to get a job … then another job … then another … and so on. At some point, I married and divorced a few times, producing two children, who are now adults and whom I love.

Writing was always a hobby, followed intermittently, until I shook off the shackles of the capitalist slavery system and gratefully accepted retirement. I developed my writing skills by reading and analysing the work of others. From some, I learnt how to write, while others showed me the mistakes to avoid; I am grateful to all of them.

At the age of sixty, as retirement loomed, I reinvented myself. I threw off the mantle that had stifled me for my whole adult life, and discovered, inside, the person I could have been. That person is now Elizabeth Audrey Mills, chatelaine and author of two novels (with another in hand), a novelette and a book of short stories.