Veronica Henry's novels are English through and through, but her early childhood was peripatetic, and she spent several years in the States becoming an all-American kid. So being sent back to England to continue her education at a strict girl's boarding school in Bath was a culture shock.

After leaving Bristol University, where she spent more time running a post-punk nightclub and hanging out with her future husband than studying Latin, she worked on The Archers, where her duties ranged from supervising the recording of new sound effects to giving guided tours of Borsetshire.

From there she went to Central Television to become a script editor for Crossroads. She subsequently turned her hand to scriptwriting, penning scenes for many popular soap operas and dramas including The Archers, Heartbeat, Boon, Family Affairs and Doctors, as well as the cult-classic Jupiter Moon.

Veronica had always wanted to write fiction and in 2000 Penguin signed her up for a two-book deal with her first novel Honeycote published in 2002. Her last novel, An Eligible Bachelor, was shortlisted for the Romantic Novelists' Association FosterGrant Reading Glasses Romantic Novel of the Year Award 2006. She has recently returned to scriptwriting and is currently working on episodes of the hugely popular BBC1 hospital drama, Holby City.

A recent house move from the centre of Birmingham to a village in North Devon provided the inspiration for new novel Love on the Rocks:

"Several years ago I was struggling to finish my second novel, when a friend suggested I spent a week at her flat in North Devon. With nothing to stare at but acres of golden sand and miles of shimmering sea, I found my fingers flying across the keyboard and the novel finished. Exhilarated by this miraculous unblocking, I shook out every piggy bank, schmoozed my bank manager and put a deposit down on a seaside retreat of my own. For the next two years I escaped there whenever I could, and never failed to find the view inspiring. The only flaw in my plan was that my family soon cottoned on and followed me - it was no longer a retreat - but a commune for friends, family and hangers-on. I had to accept that I had to share my idyll - to the extent that two years ago we sold our home and moved to Devon full-time. In the meantime, the glorious setting proved to be further inspiration. Everyone who came to stay seemed to dream of escaping 'real life' to live by the sea. Gradually my fifth novel began to take shape - what really would happen, to someone who chucked in their job and tried to turn their fantasy into a reality? What obstacles might stand in their way? My imagination ran riot, and the fictional seaside village of Mariscombe emerged as the next property hot-spot."

Veronica lives with her husband and three sons in a village in North Devon. She is currently working on her sixth novel.