I can’t remember a time when I didn’t write stories. Before I could write, I drew the ponies, princesses and
castles that were the stuff of stories. As an only child, I was never happier than when I had a drawing book or a
story for company. Some things don't change.
I was born near Swansea, where my grandfather was a police inspector.
He was a talented calligrapher who painted beautiful illuminated texts.
My grandmother was simply wonderful: kind, loving, and a great cook, and her recipes regularly turn up
in my stories. Her parents were equally big-hearted. Reuben Vyse was originally from Stoke-on-Trent, where the family were pottery painters.
It came as quite a shock to see a photograph recently of Chelsea potter Charles Vyse. He looked exactly like my
great grandfather.
We moved to beautiful Shropshire, my father's home county, when I was five, and here I stayed until University. I studied English, French and German
in London, then
worked as a secretary in South Kensington, writing in my spare time. Married and with a new baby son, we had the chance
to move back to Shropshire where my husband had a new job as a land surveyor.
The following year, my daughter was born. It was good to be home.
I began writing children’s stories whenever I had time. Some were broadcast by the BBC. Having discovered there was
no children's book on Shropshire folk stories, I decided to write one.
Witches & Warriors, Legends from the Shropshire Marches was published a few years later
by Shropshire Books, teamed with Robin Lawrie's wonderful illustrations.
Shropshire's landscape and folklore also provided inspiration for historical romances, and my stories from that time
have a distinct flavour of Thomas Hardy and Mary Webb, who remain two of my favourite writers.
When my husband decided to set up his own land surveying practice, I went back to work and spent ten happy years with
Shropshire Libraries.
It was while working for Shropshire Librabries that I began compiling crosswords for staff newsletters, and published a collection
of Shropshire crosswords, followed by Gardens and Bookworms crossword books. At the same time I began writing
Death in the Physic Garden ,
my first crime novel, featuring garden designer and astrologer, Fern Green. As Barry's business grew, so did my
share of the admin. I gave up my library job and studied a City & Guilds in garden design which inspired me to
redesign most of our garden, and to completely rewrite
Physic Garden again…
Ten years after its conception,
Death in the Physic Garden was finally finished. Publishers' readers loved the Shropshire setting and the horticulture, although one commented that the heroine "was obviously Charlie Dimmock". I didn't have the heart to tell her that redheaded heroine Fern Green had arrived in 1996, two years before Ms Dimmock graced our TV screens. But though my agent and the publisher loved the story, it was a difficult time for fiction… So in Autumn 2005 I self published.
It has taken me ten years to complete one novel. Taureans don’t do things
in a hurry. I just hope the sequel won’t take quite so long.
Karen Lowe
2008
Somerset Maugham said there were three rules for writing the novel. Unfortunately no one knows what they are.
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