I’ve always believed that the stories of ordinary people are extraordinary — and worth preserving. My writing journey began long before I ever published a book, rooted in a lifelong fascination with family history, lived experience, and the quiet courage found in everyday lives.
I was born and raised in London, Ontario, and in 1996 my family and I moved to the Haliburton Highlands, where we ran a self‑catering resort for fourteen years. Those years — full of community, conversation, and connection — shaped the way I see people and the stories they carry. Now retired and living beside a lake, I finally have the time and space to bring those stories to life.
My novels and children’s books grow out of the intersections between memory, history, and imagination. Whether I’m drawing from genealogical research or moments from my own life, I write to honour the people who came before us and to explore how their choices ripple forward through generations.
The Promise Series began with A Ring of Promises, inspired by the fragments of my paternal grandparents’ lives — a century‑old romance that demanded to be told even when the historical record was incomplete. Fact and fiction intertwine to illuminate the emotional truth behind their story.
My second novel, Promise of the Bluebell Woods, reaches into my husband’s family history, following the path of the Number 10 Canadian General Hospital during WWII and a remarkable young English woman — a war bride and laboratory technician — whose courage shaped the lives that followed. It is a love story, a war story, and a tribute to the resilience of ordinary families in extraordinary times.
My newest novel, A Touch of Promise, continues my exploration of ordinary people facing extraordinary challenges. Set in 1947, it follows Pearl Griffith, a young English war bride adjusting to life in rural Canada while navigating emotional abuse from her mother‑in‑law and the lingering wounds of battle fatigue in the men around her. Inspired by real post‑war experiences, the story highlights the resilience of women, the quiet strength found in friendship, and the courage required to reclaim one’s voice in a new land.
To learn more about the inspiration behind A Touch of Promise and how it fits within the Promise Series, please listen to, or watch, my interview with Colin Mustful of History Through Fiction. I’ve linked it below both in podcast and YouTube versions.
I also write for children, collaborating with my sister, Audrey Ramsay, whose illustrations bring our stories to life. From traditional watercolour pencil drawings to digital art, her work adds warmth and colour to each book we create together.
On YouTube at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRIGOcTDhU0
On any podcast network. Search for season 11, episode 10 of History Through Fiction: https://rss.com/podcasts/history-through-fiction-podcast/2945550/