I have always loved stories and my earliest memory is of being read to by my father, seated in a brown armchair under a pool of concentrated light. There was magic in this moment. The magic of entering a new world through a portal conjured by words: ‘Once upon a time there were four little rabbits, and their names were – Flopsy, Mopsy, Cotton-tail, and Peter.’ I was born in Scotland, and many of the earliest stories I encountered had a British setting. After I moved to Aotearoa New Zealand when I was seven I began to revel in stories with a connection to this place, from Jane Mander’s Story of a New Zealand River to Patricia Grace’s Cousins.

My other abiding love is music. I started learning to play the piano when I was five, mostly because my mother was taking lessons and I used to sit and ‘play like Mum’ as a favourite game. It was naturally thought that letting me learn some tunes might be a good plan so that my playing was less of an assault on the ears! Now my favourite piece of furniture in my Cambridge home is my baby grand piano on which I enjoy introducing friend’s children to the pleasures of music. I mostly play for pleasure, my favourite composer being Chopin, but am occasionally tempted to play for others, as when I was part of a concert tribute to Jane Austen’s music in Adelaide at a conference commemorating 200 years since her death.

When writing this introduction about myself, I asked one of my god-daughters what I should say, to which she replied ‘Chocolate and dresses!’. She is so right. Chocolate is definitely my favourite treat and the frock is my preferred fashion statement. I like to think I introduce a little Victorian or art deco style into my everyday clothes, but there is nothing better than going to the Art Deco Festival in Napier or Victorian / Steampunk Festival in Oamaru and indulging in the elegance of bygone eras.