Born in England in 1957 Dorinda Balchin graduated from Warwick University in 1980 and began a career in teaching. Books and writing had always been a passion for her, but with two children to raise and a demanding career in the field of education Dorinda’s love of literature was mainly confined to reading with little time to explore and develop her writing. Then in 2008, along with her husband, Dorinda gave up her teaching career and made a life-changing move to southern India where the couple now run a guesthouse. This change of lifestyle has allowed Dorinda the time to develop some of the writing projects which she has worked on over the years. Her love of history is clearly reflected in her well researched novels which draw you into another time and place peopled with believable characters with all the strengths and weaknesses which we recognise in ourselves. When asked about the influences on her writing Dorinda Balchin acknowledges that these are eclectic. “We don’t show just one characteristic in our lives” she says, “we are an amalgam of our thoughts and experiences, our hopes and fears, our education, and the influence that numerous people have had on us, shaping us into the people we are today. It’s the same with authors and genres which have influenced me - the social and historical writings of Dickens, factual history books, historical novels by a variety of authors, books about philosophy or religion, science fact or fiction. Each genre has a place on my bookshelves and has helped to shape my ideas and writing style into something which I hope reflects the richness of human life in an accessible and entertaining way.”
