As I write this, there is a donkey staring at me, threatening to kick the water bucket over if I don’t go out right now and turn the tap on.
My life is circled with animals and nature which is just how I like it. Living in the heart of the beautiful French countryside, gazing out of the window as the birds change with the seasons from the bleak crows of winter to the joyful swifts of summer.
I write all sorts – novels, short stories, poems, non-fiction – stories of love and loss and remembering. Not all my tales have sad endings. Some are quite uplifting.
I have spent nearly four decades finding the words that make people feel something, understand something, or want something they didn’t know they wanted before they read the page – as a press officer, a marketing director, a magazine editor, and now as the author of two short story collections and a weekly nature newsletter read around the world.
Published Books
Children
Animals
My characters come to me from nowhere, seemingly dropping from the sky onto the page, bringing with them their stories of love and loss. I love nothing more than to shine a light on their hearts and in so doing, hopefully, illuminate something of the universal in us all.
Actually, it’s not true that they drop out of the sky. It is more that they step from the shadows, as a thought descends, as someone says something, or I read some snippet from someone’s life or peek into the living space of a stranger.
I could talk of grander forces at play, of themes and subjects that prompt me to dig deeper, to find meaning. But in reality, I think I write stories to discover the people from all around me who walk quietly from shadow to shadow holding their secrets like tiny birds in their hands.
I also make jewellery. And paint.
A Collection of Short Stories
Unfamiliar Territory
Sri Lanka is a paradise isle of palm fringed beaches and breathtaking hill country, yet scratch the surface and you will find nothing is as idyllic as it seems. Lovingly told, these stories evoke a land of sunshine and tears, and lives rich in nuance. Moving and poignant, they are tales of sorrow and redemption, and of triumph over adversity.
Coming Soon
Dolphin in the Bay
Lucie is running away with her four year old son Milo to a remote fishing village in the far west of France. A dolphin often plays in the bay, to the delight of onlookers, but it too faces the same demons as Lucie.
First Person Singular
This tender collection of short stories brings together a disparate collection of characters who have one thing in common - they are all up against a part of themselves that they would rather remain buried.
The Zen of Hens
Inspired by the hens we have rehomed from intensive farming, this short book shows you why a hen is so much more than an egg machine - they have so much to teach us about life and living.
Elephant in the Room
These stories imagine a world beyond these troubled days. Troubling yet inspiring, this collection explores what it might mean to meet the deep shift in the earth’s equilibrium. And to pull it back from the brink.
Enchanting.
Wendy draws us into the lives of ordinary people – her characters are exquisitely drawn and her descriptions of their surroundings are beautiful.
My substacks
Follow Along
I write two Substack publications:
one is for all things short story - Short Story Press
and the other is where I write about slowing down, the natural world, and finding your way back to yourself - Wild Art Letters
On belonging to the living world
I am standing at the kitchen window looking out into the garden. A red admiral is opening and closing its wings on the head of a thistle. Two jackdaws are arguing on the roof overhead. A pigeon is doing what pigeons do - moving across the grass with that...
On grief, and the life we almost miss
The horse chestnut at the edge of the lane is shedding its conkers early. I photographed them the other morning - small, unripe, jettisoned by a tree under stress from the heat - and felt the familiar tightening in my chest. The grief that comes when the natural world...
Dan
The first drag tasted like ashes, but Dan held on to his cigarette nevertheless. He leant against the wall next to M&S, feeling the heat in the bricks. He should probably call her. Send a message or a text. But what could he possibly say? "Good luck" "Hope it all...
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