Amy was born and brought up in Belfast, Northern Ireland. She qualified as an occupational therapist in Edinburgh in 1968, and has spent most of her career working with children with special needs, though she finished up as a wheelchair specialist. There was one period of three years in the 1980s when she had the privilege of serving as a missionary in Nepal, though not as an occupational therapist. She still lives in Belfast with her dachshunds. Spice, her eighteen-and-a-half-year-old standard long-haired black-and-tan dachshund, was sadly put to sleep just after the writing of Simone was finished. She is much missed. Spice had recently been joined by two stars—Stella, a seven-year-old miniature short-haired black-and-tan dachshund, and Sirius, a six-year-old miniature long-haired red dachshund—who are still with Amy and keeping her busy.
Amy’s first Chalet book, acquired when she was about ten, was The Chalet School and Jo, which came from a neighbour with older girls. From then on, she accessed more from the library (her second home!), and with every book token. She still reads them constantly, working her way through the series in order, including every fill-in she can get her hands on. At bedtime she needs to read something that is well written, familiar, and turns out well in the end, and her Chalet books fill that slot admirably well. When the pile of books by her bed starts to topple, they go back in the bookcase until their turn comes round again.
Her younger brother shared her enthusiasm, and eventually gave her FOCS membership for a birthday present (around the year 2000), and a copy of New Beginnings at the Chalet School by Heather Paisley—which gave her the first inkling that anything was being added to the series. Anticipating a period of relative inactivity following a planned hip resurfacing in 2008, she thought she would have a go at a Chalet fill-in, and Sisters at the Chalet School was the result. She found the writing process so addictive that she could not stop, and then wrote A Refuge for the Chalet School. Still addicted, she wrote A Guernsey Girl at the Chalet School during the pandemic, before casting around for another book to write. She couldn’t find another Chalet topic jumping out at her but thought she would like to attempt a Lorna sequel, which was Lorna’s Last Year at Wynyards. Simone at the Chalet School is her most recent book.
Please note that Simone at the Chalet School will not be published until August 2025.
