After many years during which I've written plays, pantomimes and short stories for friends, I am now the proud possessor of a step-daughter, attached to a beautiful and intelligent wife.
I've never had a child to look after before, and it's a challenge. She'll be a teenager this month. Watching her trying to work out what life means to her, how to cope with friends and foes, made me write (for the very first time) a novel, just for her.
But this novel is not just for her; it's for me, and it's for anyone who is a child or who has a child who is intelligent and enquiring, who is shy, who has dreams.
It is enjoyable to write about Yifan, and the fantasy element of the story means that there are many more adventures for her to have as she grows up into the balanced, resourceful adult that I know she will become. And so here I am, hoping to share her life - the real life and the life of dreams - with you.